High School Insanity
by 957
Summary: Meet Sakura Haruno, a new student NINJA to Konoha High. Enter Sasuke Uchiha, fan girl attracter with his famous icy Back Off glare. Complete opposites, yet opposites attract..? Seriously, just what does Sasuke find in this strange, pink-haired girl?
1. Sakura Haruno

High School Insanity

Summary: Meet Sakura Haruno, a new student to Konoha High. Enter Sasuke Uchiha, fan girl attracter with his famous icy "Back Off" glare. Complete opposites, yet opposites attract…? When Sasuke meets Sakura, life for them flip-flops. Stalkers 24/7, secret codes, and … ramen? Now – are they falling for each other? Sasuke is, but Sakura isn't.

At 7:00 a.m., an alarm clock rang promptly. A certain pink-haired girl groaned and rolled over in her bed… and thus landed on the floor.

"Ow," she muttered, rubbing her head. Slowly she stood up and looked at her calendar. "Um, Monday, September 12th, first day of school at Konoha High … that's nice…"

The girl turned heel and collapsed back on her bed. As you see, her brain takes a while to process…

"Ahck!" She bolted upright as the words were finally digested. "Today's the first day of school for me!"

Sakura Haruno was running around in circles in the middle of her room, frantically shrieking, "I'm gonna be late! I'm gonna be late!"

Then she recollected herself, meaning found her wandering mind. She ran into the bathroom and took a quick shower before throwing on a pair of cuffed jeans and a red tank top.

Sakura snatched her bag, which was draped over a kitchen chair, and then grabbed an apple. Then she marched out her front door.

"Let's see, now's 7:30, school starts at 8:15, and the walk there will take about 10 minutes, so I'm good!"

She had to cross several streets to reach Konoha High, and on the 5th one, a black convertible cruised past, almost hitting her. Sakura shook with anger. She glared at the person driving the car, who happened to be a raven-haired guy with dark eyes.

"You almost hit me. There's a stop sign over there; can't you read? Do you even have a driver's license? Who do you think you are, crashing into everyone you see?" Sakura snapped.

The guy just smirked at her and rounded a corner, disappearing from sight. Sakura was stunned – but not for long. She spotted Konoha High straight ahead, and with all her worries forgotten, skipped off towards the school.

Just then she saw a small, black cat sitting on one of the benches in front of the school. Sakura frowned. _Poor kitten. Wonder what it's doing here?_

She was so deep in thought, that she didn't even notice when she had reached the double doors of the school. She accidentally bumped into someone and fell.

"Oops! Sorry," Sakura apologized. A blond-haired, blue-eyed kid just stared at her for a second before sprouting a foxy grin. He was wearing an orange and black jumpsuit. _Strange, my new school is_, Sakura couldn't help but think. He helped her up and took a deep breath.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I love ramen, ramen, and ramen! RAMEN FOREVER! Anyway, you're new to this school, right? Then you'd better see Tsunade."

The blond continued chattering about things from someone called "Hinata" to how the school's toilets got stuck so easily. Finally, he came back to the beginning.

"So you should see Tsunade, the principle, before anything else. Her office is right along the hallway, second door to the right," he concluded. Sakura sweat dropped, but nodded. "Thanks Naruto, you were a big help. See you later, I guess!"

But before she could do anything else, Naruto grabbed her arm. "You still haven't told me yet," he said seriously. Sakura was confused. "Your name," he said.

Sakura slapped her forehead. "Oh. Sorry Naruto! My name is Sakura. Now, see you later!"

Sakura wandered aimlessly until in front of her was a door that said, "Principal's Office". She frowned, but knocked. "Come in," a voice said. She entered.

A blond woman (that's all I will say) was sitting at a desk. When she saw Sakura, she smiled. "You must be the new student. Sit down, we have some things to discuss." Sakura did as she was told, and the woman began again.

"I am Tsunade, Principle of Konoha High. School, as you already know, begins at 8:15 and ends at 4:00. You have five classes. Here is your schedule." Tsunade handed her a sheet of paper. Sakura glanced at it.

_1__st__ period: Algebra - Kakashi_

_2__nd__ period: History - Asuma_

_3__rd__ period: Break_

_4__th__ period: Physical Education – Anko/Gai _

_5__th__ period: Lunch_

_6__th__ period: Botany – Orochimaru_

_7__th__ period: Home Economics – Kurenai_

She nodded and slipped the schedule into her bag.

Tsunade smiled. "Your first class is Kakashi, I see," she made a face, "his class is across the hall, three doors down. Ask him to assign you a tour guide for the day. That will be all." She smiled again before standing up, opening the door, and forcing Sakura out with a sweeping motion.

Sakura rushed towards her math class and reached it just in time. She stepped through the doorway and looked around the room. In the front was a silver-haired man with a black mask covering all of his face except his right eye. He was holding a small, orange book and giggling uncontrollably.

_One eye … I wonder how he can breathe. _Sakura thought. She shifted her attention to people in the class.

Sitting in the front row was a kid with a gray jacket and hood. A dog suddenly peeped out.

"Akamaru, get back in!" she heard him hiss. There was a small whine, but the dog disappeared. There was another girl with buns in her hair, and a serious-looking guy with sort of spiky dark hair, shades, and a big jacket that covered most of his face.

Sakura shuddered. She looked towards the back of the room, where a girl in a thick coat with short, indigo hair was poking her two index fingers together. She had white eyes and was looking at a certain loud-mouthed blond and blushing….

Sakura turned and saw … Naruto!

He stopped talking to a lazy looking person with his hair sticking up in a sort of ponytail. _Like a pineapple,_ Sakura mused. "Sakura! Hi! So you're in Kakashi's math class. I'll introduce you." He jumped up and pulled her to the front of the class before beginning to point out everyone.

"That's Tenten, the one with the buns, and there's Kiba, he has a dog named Akamaru. Shino is the one sitting next to Tenten. By the window is Ino, she's a real snob; Shikamaru is the one I was talking to. Really smart, but lazy. There in the back is Neji and Gaara. Sasuke's supposed to sit there too, but I have no idea where he is. So that's about everyone!"

Kakashi had just noticed the addition to his class. He cleared his throat. "Are you the new student?" he said gently. Sakura nodded. "Well then, introduce yourself!"

Sakura turned to the class and coughed. Everyone looked up. "Um, I'm Sakura Haruno, I transferred from Sunagakure High. And yes, this is my natural hair color."

"Well, they say you learn something new everyday," Kakashi said conversationally. "Anyway, I'm going to call roll. Say you're here when I call your name…"

"Tenten."

"Here."

"Hinata."

"P-present."

"Neji."

"Hn."

"Naruto."

"RAMEN FOREVER!"

"Shikamaru."

Yawn

"Sakura, I know you're here… Gaara."

"…"

"Okay, In- "

"Gaara?!" Sakura screeched. The redhead looked up … into the eyes of his childhood friend. Everyone was staring. Suddenly, he broke into a tiny, tiny smile.

"Gaara, smiling? Whoa," Naruto said.

"Anyway, Ino?"

"Present and always will be!" said a sickly-sounding someone. Sakura winced.

"Alright. Sasuke Uchiha- "

The door opened again – no, it was flung open. In the doorway stood a raven-haired, tall male with dark eyes, and almost the same color of hair. "Here."

Ino squealed. "Sasuke, you're so cooool!"

He said nothing, but just pushed past to the back, with his hands in his pockets. Sakura just stared. He was the one who had nearly crashed into her this morning!

"Role call done," Kakashi said. "Now, Sakura, your seat will be in the back, next to Neji and Sasuke. Any questions?"

Sakura was still shaking in rage, but she answered. "Yes, Tsunade told me to tell you that I need a guide to give me a tour of the school…"

"Ah," he said. "Sasuke will do. Let me see your schedule…" After quickly scanning the piece of paper, he said, "Sasuke also has History with you. He can show you around after break."

With that he settled back into his chair and began to read.

As Sakura made her way towards the back of the room, she felt that it was going to be a very long school year.


	2. Crush

Chapter 2

Crush

For at least 10 minutes all they did was sit there. The supposed math teacher just read his book and looked a bit … let's say unsteady. Sakura looked around. Beside her was Sasuke, who was staring out the window, and to her right was the guy called Neji. He had unusually long hair, a stoic expression and white eyes, just like Hinata. Sakura guessed that they might be related.

She glanced around before whispering to Gaara, who sat in front of her, "What exactly do we _do_ in math?"

"Nothing," he answered simply, before going back to his book with a monotone expression on his face.

Sakura frowned (she seemed to be doing that a lot today) but rested her chin on the palm of her hand. She was right; this was certainly going to be a long day. A very long day.

After nearly an hour of doing nothing, the bell rang. Sakura had fallen asleep out of being so bored, and suddenly jerked up when she heard the bell. She quickly gathered her books and headed out of the room.

Sakura reached her locker after following the directions on her schedule. She had been given all the books that were required, and now she took the ones for history. Sakura looked around for Sasuke. Kakashi had said for him to lead her there. She sighed. She could always ask someone else –

"Follow me," a voice said in a commanding tone. Sakura spun around and there stood the famous Uchiha. She also noticed a lot of girls standing behind them, drooling.

_Fan girls_, she thought disgustedly.

"Well?" an impatient someone said. "Hurry up. I'm supposed to show you where our history class is."

Sakura sighed, but followed Sasuke through crowds of fan girls, many of who sent Sakura death glares.

The pink-haired girl just ignored them. When they reached the doorway of another classroom, Sakura bumped into someone, due to the mobs of students in the hall. But this time, she managed to keep her balance.

"Why, hello there."

A tall, raven-haired man with lines creasing his face smirked. _He looks just like_ _Sasuke_, Sakura thought. _A taller, cooler, weirder Sasuke. Brothers?_

"Itachi," Sasuke growled.

"Hn," he smirked. "Hello, little brother."

_Ah_, Sakura nodded.

Itachi peered at her. She stared back with the same intensity. Suddenly he burst into laughter.

"So, Sasuke, is she the lucky one?" he chuckled.

Sasuke growled.

Suddenly an obnoxious blond appeared, and it wasn't Naruto. "Hey Sasuke! You're hot," she said winking. Sasuke made a gagging noise, and then noticed that Sakura was gone. He looked towards the classroom and sure enough, saw a blur of pink disappear out of sight. He sighed.

"Sasuke, are you listening?" Ino frowned. "Sasuke, what do you have for your next class?"

"History," he said automatically. He hurried into the classroom before Ino could say anything else.

"Sasuke baby, come back!" he heard her shout, before slamming into his seat. Asuma, their teacher, wasn't here yet. Sasuke glanced around until his eyes landed on Sakura. She was resting her chin on the palms of her hand and her elbows on the desk. _She looks like an angel_, Sasuke thought, imagining a halo hovering over her head. _Yeah, that's right – wait! Sasuke, what are you thinking?! This is not right! _He smashed his head on the desk over and over until he felt someone's gaze on him. Sakura.

Sasuke abruptly stopped moving and looked away. Sakura just sighed and sat back down in her seat, which was one up and right to his.

A man with a beard, who Sakura guessed was Asuma, entered the room. He waved heartily at the class and began to take role.

"Shikamaru."

Said lazy person jerked upright, quickly wiping the drool from his mouth. "Wha? Oh, here…"

"Good enough… Chouji?"

munch munch

"Sasuke."

"Hn."

"Sakura – ah, Tsunade's told me about the new student - " he beamed at her. "You probably have already done this, but nothing hurts to do it again. Come, to the front of the room, and introduce yourself. Go on."

Sakura stood up and hesitantly walked up to the front.

"Tell us about yourself, your hobbies, what you like and dislike, any pets, your family…"

Sakura's eyes seemed to grow dull, but then she sprang back to life with renewed energy.

"Hi. My name is Sakura Haruno, I like flowers, especially cherry blossoms 'cuz they're so pretty, and animals. I don't like ice cubes and brick walls-" here she glanced meaningfully at Sasuke, "I want to get a cat, and I'm a part-time ninja."

A lot of people gasped at this statement, some in awe, others in disbelief, among the many boys who were drooling at the sight of her. How could this innocent, fragile girl be a ninja?

Sasuke, however, now nodded. _That's logic_, he thought, _for her being able to stop_ _my punch… she's pretty strong, though it doesn't look like it. Hn. Damn._

"And as for my family," she said, her eyes losing their shine, "they're all dead, killed in an accident. My parents, my little brother…"

The entire classroom was drained of whatever happiness it had. A lot of girls were sniffing, and guys became _silent_. (Something that never happened.) Sakura quietly walked back to her seat and sat down.

…_Wow_, Sasuke thought. _I never knew that she was like that, all alone, with her freaking cheerfulness… that _is_ pretty sad._

Ah, at least you have a heart

_You again?_

Of course it's me. Who else?

_Just go away. I thought I'd gotten rid of you._

Nope, no can do! giggle

_Are you really my inner self?_

Yes. BELIEVE IT!You're sounding like Naruto now – great…

_**So, you have feelings for the girl? Oh my, just the first day she's here and you already have a crush! You've never had a crush before…**_

I so do not like her! Where are you getting these ideas!

_**You're me, so I know exactly what you're thinking.**_

_True… but it still doesn't mean I like her._

_**Tut tut, how stupid of you. It's quite obvious.**_

You just called yourself stupid, moron!

_**Talking with your inner self – what happened to the world?**_

_Just go away._

Sure, fine, whatever. I'll be back.

"Sasuke!" Asuma yelled for the 62nd time. Sasuke rolled his eyes and slouched into his seat. "What," he said irritably.

"Oh nothing, I've just been calling you _for 62 times_!" he spat.

"So, what's your- "

ping

"EEK!"

Just then Sakura collapsed.

a/n: sorry for the weird, weird ending and OOC stuff… and bad language and writing and etc. Oh and I made Sakura a part time ninja so she's like strong and knows how to do cool stuff, yeah…

Asorayuki is going to be her personal teacher and stuff, my 2 friends were arguing about a name, one said Sora, the other said Yuki, so I just said Asorayuki, which happens to be very strange…


	3. Mushroomheads

Sasuke jumped up

Chapter 3

Mushroomheads

Sasuke jumped up.

What happened? How did she-

He quickly sat back down again, remembering that Uchihas NEVER jump up for anything. What the heck, even if his house was on fire, Sasuke was supposed to calmly stand up, calmly walk to the door, and calmly evacuate.

Asuma had a worried look on his face. "Neji, Shikamaru, take her to the infirmary. She needs to be hospitalized."

The two nodded and each took one of her arms before throwing them over their shoulders. They then proceeded to drag her across the room.

Asuma shook his head. "What in the world are you doing! You-"

Sasuke _calmly_ stood up, walked over to Sakura, and picked her up bridal-style. He disappeared out of the room.

There was a deathly silence before Asuma chuckled nervously and said, "Now we shall resume our roll call … Hin-"

PING!

"Presenting, Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast!"

An enthusiastic, bowl-cut mushroom-head with huge, thick eyebrows wearing a green spandex suit (I'm sure you can guess who) hopped in through the window. He turned to Asuma and bowed.

"My apologies for being late. Konoha's Green Beast is NEVER late!"

Asuma narrowed his eyes. "So then why are you late?"

The "unusual-looking" mushroom-head just grinned. "My ever-so-youthful teacher, Gai-sensei, has this lost turtle! I could not bear his howls of anguish, so I searched for 4 hours straight in the forest-"

"What kind of turtle was it?" a random guy asked.

"Dark green, about as big as my thumb!" He PINGED again.

"Did you find it?" Asuma muttered, not believing that he was actually interested.

"No, so I gotta go!"

"Wait. You can't skip school, especially not for some dumb turtle-"

"No." He shook his head. "I made a promise to keep looking for it until I find it! When I do I'll be back!" He did a thumbs-up sign and bounded back out the window.

"That Rock Lee..."

Sakura groaned. She sat up slowly.

"What happened?" she muttered weakly.

"Three words. You fainted. The end."

A familiar person was sitting with his arms crossed in a chair across from the bed Sakura was sitting on. She looked up in surprise.

"You? What are you doing here? And by the way, that was six words," she snapped.

"I was waiting for you to wake up. Why did you faint?"

Sakura shuddered. "I saw a mushroom-head with a bowl-cut and humongous eyebrows- and believe me, they were really scary." She paused, looked around, and sighed with relief. "It was wearing a green spandex suit, too. You wouldn't believe me, would you?"

Sasuke stifled a short laugh. Suddenly aware of what he had just done, he quickly clapped a hand over his mouth. Sasuke Uchiha didn't laugh. Such weird things were happening on the same day a pink-haired girl arrived at school. Something was wrong.

He knocked on his head a couple of times. To him, it sounded empty. Sasuke sighed. That must be the reason. No one was home, so he couldn't think straight. Yeah, that seemed right. He glanced at Sakura to see if she had noticed. She hadn't.

Instead she was staring at a certain thick-browed green spandex suit-wearer.

"EEK!" she screeched.

"Hello, my beloved! I have come to save you from the darkness! I found the turtle, so I have spare time!" it cried.

"Cut it out, Lee," Sasuke grumbled. It was so annoying.

"Me? Cut what out? No paper or scissors here," he said cheerfully. "And, I never was introduced to this lovely – er, pink person."

Sakura flared up. "Don't you say a thing about my hair! It's perfectly fine. What's wrong with it? My hair's naturally pink, okay? DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT?"

Lee backed up, shaking his head. "N-no, not at all. Now, i-if you'll p-please excuse me, I-I have to get to class…"

He swiftly turned heel and shot out the door. Sasuke could hear his rapidly retreating footsteps.

He shifted his weight and spoke to Sakura without facing her. "He's right, we'd better get back to class."

Sakura had a strange look on her face. "What was all that talk about turtles?"

"Probably something to do with youth," he said. "Come on, we're late. Asuma is going to freak out. Once, when someone freaking _coughed_, he went nuts…"

Sakura smirked. "Wow, you sure have a whole lot to say."

Sasuke blushed slightly. He quickly turned away so Sakura couldn't see.

"Hn, let's go."

"Yeah, what time is it?"

Sasuke looked at his watch. "History is almost over, so we have break next. I'll have to show you around."

She stuck her tongue out. "You didn't answer my question …"

He snorted. Sometimes she was annoying, too.

"Let's go."

Sakura stood up, pranced over to the raven-haired boy and locked arms with him. Sasuke stared at her. She smiled sweetly.

"Well, let's go. Oh, and thanks for waiting."

Sasuke was confused, but he shook it off. Suddenly aware of her arm around his, he pulled away. Sakura had a slightly surprised and sad look on her face.

"Um, I don't really like close contact…" he shuddered in remembrance of the times his stupid fangirls had smothered him with their _bodies…_

"Oh, I see." She really didn't.

He sighed. "You're doing this only to stall. We have a class to go to."

She had a hurt look on her face, but followed him out the door. _I guess Sasuke isn't as I'd thought he was. Oh well – a girl can dream._


	4. A Very Short Tour

It was break. Sasuke took Sakura around the school, occasionally muttering things like, "This is the cafeteria," or, "Here's the gym."

Sakura shifted uncomfortably. "Could you show me where my classes are?"

"Uh, sure. Let me see your schedule." Sakura handed it over. Sasuke glanced over it.

"After break, gym, lunch, botany, and home economics. Argh…" He shoved the piece of paper back into Sakura's hands.

"W-what?"

Sasuke shook his head. "I mean, you have the exact same schedule as I do."

She looked confused. "Is that bad?"

"Not necessarily…" Sasuke stopped to look at their surroundings. Somehow he had led them further down the main hall, where no one ever came.

"Er, let's head over here." He quickly retraced his steps back to the cafeteria. Sasuke went down a narrow passageway and pointed to a random door. "That's the girls bathroom."

Sakura sweatdropped. "Sasuke, that's the boys bathroom…"

"Oh. Right." Sakura stared at him. "Are you okay?"

"Sure, just didn't drink enough coffee this morning." She blinked, but put the matter away.

"So, can you show me my classes so you won't have to go through the trouble of me following you each time? Also, your fan girls don't really like me either…"

"Okay, you know where the cafeteria and gym is, and your botany class is right down the hall, second to the right. The door has a snake on it."

"Thanks. And how about home economics?"

"That's Kurenai, right? Her class has a red eye on the doorframe."

"Oh, well thanks." She looked at his watch. "We've got 2 minutes until break is over. We should hurry."

"Yeah…"


	5. Maito Gai and Gym

Chapter 5

Maito Gai and Gym

"Gym," Sasuke groaned. We have _gym_." Wherever there was a gym, there was a Gai. Though, there is only one Gai – the one that was insanely look-alike with Rock Lee, the one Sakura called mushroom-head.

He, Sakura, Naruto, and Gaara were all heading to 4th period. Sakura was hyper, chatting nonstop with a not-responding Gaara. Naruto scratched his head. "Man, even I don't talk that much…"

"And that's saying something," Sasuke added.

"What was that?" Sakura spun around, giving him and Naruto the EVIL look. Gaara, who had seen that look plenty of times before, backed up a little. The two accused ones looked indignantly at her before quickly bowing and apologizing.

"We're sorry! So very very very sorry! Really!"

"…Ditto."

"And, Sasuke will treat all of us to ramen after school because he's so nice!"

"Yeah- wait, wait what?"

"What, you agreed." Naruto had an injured look on his face. "Come on, please?" He put on his best cute baby fox eyes…. to a sigh.

"Fine… but you're paying half. We'll take my car with the shades up so no one will see us, and you better be on school grounds by 4:10 or we're leaving you." He spoke the rest in a whisper.

"But, don't all your fangirls know what your car looks like? They'll jump us before we can even get _outside_," Naruto protested.

"Rather, they'll jump _you_," said Gaara, pointing to Sasuke.

All of them shrugged in acceptance. Except for the Uchiha.

"Damn," he sighed.

The four reached the gym's double doors. They went in, and Gaara, Naruto, and Sasuke each entered the boys' locker room. Sakura went in the girls'.

10 minutes later, all of them were gathered and dressed (Sakura was given her clothes by Tsunade at the beginning of break). Sakura was in black knee-length shorts, with a red and white tank top. On the back there was the school symbol, a swirl and a v-shaped beak-thing on the lower left side, outlined in black. She was also given a sweatshirt similar to the tank for cooler days, a headband, and sweatpants. The guys were wearing black basketball shorts, streaked with blue and white, with a red and white T-shirt, with the same insignia on the back, and sweatshirts. Overall pretty matching.

"HELLO, MY BELOVED STUDENTS!" A man, dressed clad in a green jumpsuit, looking very similar to a certain mushroom-head… appeared.

"MY NAME IS MAITO GAI! GET INTO GROUPS OF FOUR! NOW!"

Everyone hurried toward each other. The groups: Gaara, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Tenten – Neji, Sakura, Hinata, and Lee – Sasuke, Ino, Kiba, Naruto, and Shino, since there was an extra person.

Oh, and for what happens next …

You'll have to wait to find out.


	6. The Game Begins

Chapter 6

The Game Begins

Gai began to explain. "All of you are competing against each other, group against group. Each group has a flag that the other groups are trying to steal. Sorta like Capture the Flag… But, if you get tagged when you have another team's flag, then you're an Outable (no idea what that is). That means you are on the team that you tried to get the flag from. The teams who lose must run twenty laps around the gym! And the group who wins gets a surprise! Oh, and Shikamaru, Neji, and Shino – you are the team leaders. Here are your flaggins! Go, my youthful students!"

He tossed three sticks with fabric tied to them to each of the said captains. "Go on! Maito Gai commands you!"

He then turned to Lee, who had streams flowing down his face. "Gai-sensei (I no its not Japanese but its just so strange with Teacher Gai or just Gai, so…)!"

"Rock Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!

"Rock Lee!"

"Gai-sen -"

"SHADDUP!" the class shouted.

Gai once again faced his beloved student. "I am sorry I could not make you a team leader, but someone – I cannot mention their name – threatened me. Usually I can take care of things like that, but – so scary –"

Lee nodded. "I understand, Gai-sensei!" He saluted.

"Yosh, let's go! Come on, my students! Begin!"

Most people grumbled, but willingly backed up into corners of the gym accordingly to their groups.

"Into place! Everyone in position? Yes? Good! You will have 2 minutes to discuss with your team the strategy you will use. I will warn you when time is up so you can get ready. Then I will blow the whistle – then the game begins!"

Sooooo, the groups leaned in a football huddle, about to talk…

With Shikamaru's team:

"Okay, so Chouji – you work as a distraction. Anything will work – just keep the targeted team's attention from the flag. Tenten, when Chouji and I get the group's mind away from their flag, you can sneak over and snatch it. Gaara, I can trust you to watch over the flag. Chouji, here's what we're going to do…"

With Neji's group:

"Hinata. You can stay here with the flag. Lee, I suspect that you're the fastest, so -"

"No. I think I should be the one to get the flag."

Neji looked over at the pink-haired girl with disbelief. "W-what?" Obviously he had no one ever interrupt him before. He was quiet, but then finally sighed and motioned her to go on.

Sakura continued. "Well you see, I'm also a ninja, and that's why I think I'd be the fastest of the group. I know you're the team leader, Neji, but would you care to listen to what I have to say?"

Her look clearly said that if he were to refuse, then she would surely pummel him into pulp. So, his only choice was to give a disgruntled "Hn."

She cleared her throat. "As I was saying, Hinata, please guard the flag. Lee, could you also look out for the flag, but in a different approach? What I mean is to circle around the area our group is in and watch for anyone that's coming. You could warn Hinata if you see people that are coming closer. Neji, you will be more of a distraction. When you fully get their attention, I will come in and grab the flag."

Neji was shaking slightly. How dare this girl break and enter to take over his authority! After all, he was team leader! But, he could see the sense in her strategy, so he nodded.

She shifted her weight. "That's it. I suppose we should target the weaker team."

"And which team is that?"

She smirked. "Obviously, Shino's team has more people, but everyone there is pretty dumb, except for Sasuke and Shino. And for Shikamaru's team, I can't exactly trick Gaara, but I suppose getting past Chouji and Tenten would be pretty easy. So…"

In Shino's group:

Kiba was grinning. "I've got the perfect idea." He was about to go on, before Shino stopped him.

"I don't know what stupid plan you've got, but here's what our plan is. I will finish telling you what I think we should do, and then anyone who thinks they've got a better idea can go ahead and say it."

He looked at all of them seriously, or at least turned to face them. None of the four could exactly know if he was looking at them or not, but that's not the point.

"So, Naruto and Kiba. Since you guys are the most reckless, you are the diversion. Kiba, you and Akamaru could pretend to get the flag and run if they're going to tag you. Ino, stay here with the flag. Sasuke will come in around the time when the group tries to tag Kiba, and then capture their flag. I will be in between our group and theirs, to see if there is anything else going on. Then I can warn you all beforehand."

Shino looked at all four of them. They quickly backed up a little. "Do you have anything to add?"

Everyone hastily shook his or her heads. "N-no, we're fine with your plan. It has to be better than Kiba's…"

"Hey!" The said dog-boy glared at them, with Akamaru growling and barking at his side.

"Whatever…"

"HEY EVERYONE! TIME'S UP!" All of the students jumped. "GET INTO POSITION! NOW! THE GAME WILL BEGIN IN TWO SECONDS!"

They quickly stood up and brushed the dust off their clothes. Seconds later, the whistle blew…

And the game began.


	7. The Actual Game

Chapter 7

The Actual Game

a/n: sorry for making the last chapter not about the actual game.. It was actually about the preparations. This chappie's about the real game, so no grudges, right? Chuckle nervously

Remember, this is my first fanfic so no harsh stuff! I'm trying, dudes…

Anyway, presenting the 7th chapter!

There was a pile of rope, HUGE paperclips, two water bottles, and … a bag of chips for each group. All the players shifted, and most of them began to run. Along with Shikamaru's team:

Gaara moved into place, hovering over the flag and watching for any intruders. Tenten snuck up to the wall and waited, completely silent. Shikamaru motioned to Chouji and the two grabbed the supplies before creeping over to the left corner of the gym. After some speedy arrangements, they headed towards Neji's team.

Chouji grinned at Shikamaru and began to inch towards Lee. He then took out his secret weapon …

With Neji's group:

Hinata fell back into position, as Lee shot forward and began to circle her. Neji and Sakura headed out to Shino's team, after picking up the rope, paperclips (and when I said huge, I meant HUGE! Maybe they aren't real, but what I'm talking about is paperclips with about a foot in length, you only can bend them if you're STRONG), and the water bottles. They quickly fixed up an area in the gym with the materials they had, before stepping back to admire their work. Sure, there were other people watching them, but it was a big gym. Who really cared? _All_ the teams were setting up traps.

Sakura and Neji nodded to each other and ran to where Shino's group was stationed. There was only Ino guarding their flag. Sakura grinned. This would be as easy as stealing a piece of pie from a pie! … Unless there was no pie.

Neji nudged her and motioned to the bug-boy. "He's watching for anyone trying to steal their flag, so be careful when you go closer. I'll distract them." He looked at her solemnly before walking swiftly to Shino. He began to talk to him.

Sakura took that as her cue. She ran towards Ino, her unspoken rival, and started to speak. "Hey Ino-pig, why do you eat slops?"

The blond turned around. Seeing the pink-haired girl, she shook her fist. "Yo, Big-Forehead, why don't you stick your face in a pie?"

"Gladly." Sakura picked up a pie out of nowhere and stuffed her face into it. "Iths gud!" she managed to say in a muffled voice.

Ino shook with rage. "Forehead-girl!" I'll- "

There was a soft breeze, and Ino instinctively looked down. The flag was gone.

"EH?" She had a big anger mark on her forehead, and her eyes were – scary. "FOREHEAD-GIRL, YOU COME BACK HERE RIGHT NOW AND RETURN THAT FLAG!"

Everyone in the gym could hear her, and they all sweatdropped. Ino started running after the flash of pink. "YOU COME BACK HERE THIS INSTANT AND- "

Immediately after sprinting less than five steps, she was caught hanging by her ankle, upside-down. Yes, she fell right in Sakura and Neji's trap. And then…

"ARGH!" The water from one of the water bottles that Sakura had secured poured over her.

"MY HAIR! MY BEAUTIFUL HAIR!"

And so, you can guess what happened next…

Shino's team:

Sasuke chanced a look over his shoulder. He saw Ino, the aggravating fangirl of his, upside-down, with water dripping off of her. She was screaming insults at Sakura, who was standing at her home base and balancing the flag on her index finger. Oh, and she was smirking.

(a/n: the game's like this: whichever team gets all three flags wins the game. The team that gets their flag stolen is out. Now that that's clear, back to the story!)

Sasuke slapped a hand to his forehead and motioned to Kiba and Naruto. When he got their attention, he merely pointed at Ino, their team's disaster. Both of them groaned.

"All thanks to Ino for getting us out," Naruto muttered, kicking at a stray chip on the ground (…). As a result, he was strung up and two seconds later, dangling by a strand of rope.

"A trap, eh?" Kiba looked up at it.

"Ugh! Yo, man, you gonna help me down, r-right?"

When Kiba walked away, Naruto threw his hands up in the air – which was towards the ground – and shouted, "Why me?"

A lot of people looked at him strangely.

"Argh…"

With Neji's team again:

Sakura strolled over to Neji and Shino after she'd given the new flag to Hinata and Lee to protect. "Hey, we're targeting Shikamaru's team now."

Neji stared at her. "You mean you got Ino's flag?"

She smirked. "Not Ino's flag – anymore. It's ours now."

"Perfect. We're going to try and catch Shikamaru, Chouji, and Tenten – or at least one of them. That means we need more traps. Speaking of traps, Shikamaru and Chouji probably set up some. We'd better watch out for them. I'll leave it to you to get the flag again – I trust that you're experienced?"

"Quite."

The two shook hands formally and marched towards their goal …

Gai looked around proudly. The gym was much more empty, due to the fact there was only a few people in it, and also since one team was already down. The former players were sitting on the sidewalls, watching the game's progress.

"YES! YOU GO, MY YOUTHFUL STUDENTS!"

A faint answer in the background came. "YES, GAI-SENSEI! YOUTH IS WOOONDERFUL!"

Rock Lee.

Neji and Sakura's advancement:

…Nothing.

Neji fumed. He had walked straight into a trap. How could he not have seen? It was plain as day, but he still fell for it. Bummer.

Sakura looked at him. The Hyuga certainly looked strange when he was hanging upside-down. She sighed. "I'll cut you down. Hang on."

"To what!"

He was clearly stressing it out.

"Just grab the rope, climb up using your hands, and get a hold of that bar there. When I cut it, you let go."

He stared.

Sakura shook her head. This was hopeless.

Neji's team's defense:

Hinata and Lee constantly changed positions, looking out for intruders in their area. So far they saw none, but who knew. The atmosphere could change from peaceful to chaos in less than a second.

"Be careful. The Spirit of Youth tells me something is amiss," Lee murmured.

"O-okay." Hinata was much bolder in her thoughts than in her words. In fact, she was thinking, _I wonder how Sakura and Neji are doing. And Lee – I wish I didn't have to be stuck with him… he's a little crazy about youth. A-and what is that over there? Something loud, for sure. W-wait, that's N-naruto! W-why is he upside-down? _

"Kiba!" Naruto was yelling. "You'd better come here and help me! Or else! If I don't get down, then Sasuke won't be able to buy us ramen! Yargh!"

Everyone sweatdropped, and even Ino paused long enough in her screaming to glare at the blond and shout to Sasuke, "How come you're gonna buy him ramen? How about meeeeeeeeee!"

A kunai went flying towards the rope that was holding the hyperactive girl up. It split, and screeching, she fell headfirst towards the ground.

And was caught by none other than the show-off Sasuke Uchiha. Ino took one look at her "savior" and fainted.

Sasuke quickly released her and stood up, brushing himself off. He detected a poke directed to his shoulder and spun around. Sakura stood there, wide-eyed. He felt a little guilty, but then she started to speak.

"If only you could do that with Neji…"

He sweatdropped. "Why?"

As an answer she pointed to all the trouble.

"Ah…"

"Gotcha!"

This time Sasuke was dangling from the ceiling, slightly surprised and peeved. Chouji looked up at him.

"Sorry Sasuke! Didn't mean to catch you… It took hours (sarcasm) to get that trap there! I was planning to get Sakura, but – yeah – "

Sakura sighed, straining her neck to look up at him. "I could cut you down, but can you catch yourself?" she called. "I'm not sure you can, you don't look strong enough-"

"And Neji's scared to drop from there?" Chouji muttered, glancing over at the Hyuga. Indeed, his head was less than a foot from the ground.

"Yeah, really pathetic."

She walked over, drew out a kunai, and started sawing on the rope. It gave way immediately.

"EEK-"

"Relax, your fine." The pink-haired girl was holding him up by what was left of the rope. She looked impatient – _and pretty strong, too_, Neji thought.

She dropped him and he fell to the floor. He glared at her. "And so much for gratitude." She smirked at him.

"Oi, a little help here!" That brought the situation back to the boy stuck in the ceiling.

"You're not even part of the game anymore! Why should I help you!" Sakura shouted back. Of course, she was just annoyed with the many people who had trouble with a measly pile of rope and paperclips. Really, that was all a trap was.

"Come on! Cut me some slack!"

"If you want!" So, the frustrated girl threw several shurikens at the knot several meters (like, maybe 10-15?) above their heads. It snapped, and down came the about-to-break-his-neck Uchiha.

He didn't seem to be making a move to do anything, so Sakura made a clone and sent it after him. He fell on it and it _poof_ed away, breaking the fall.

…

Back to the _real_ game:

Sakura and Neji continued with the plan, setting up tricky traps all over the gym, after giving fair warnings to their teammates not to fall for them. They tried to be as secret as possible, but that wasn't much of a choice, since there were people shouting at them.

"Hey, Sakura! What kind of ramen are you going to get? I think the new ketchup-and-mustard flavored one is great! In fact, how did they even come up with that flavor?"

Naruto.

"Stupid, that's because you actually put ketchup and mustard in your ramen! Idiot."

Sasuke.

"Well, it wasn't my fault! For some reason Shikamaru was eating a hotdog next to me, and he had ketchup and mustard bottles right there! So what else could I do but put some in my ramen?"

"Just – never mind."

"What? What were you going to say?"

"Er, look! There's the biggest bowl of ramen on earth!"

"WHERE?"

"Um, right over there."

"HUH? I DON"T SEE IT – oh, hi Sakura! What 'cha doing?"

The girl angrily drew her fist back. All the boys that had experienced her wrath before quickly backed up, wondering how Naruto was going to get out of this one. Sakura punched the poor guy until he was no longer recognizable. Then she started lecturing him.

"Next time you shut up when I say so, okay?"

He muffled an answer.

"WHAT WAS THAT?"

"Y-yes, ma'am."

"SHUT UP!"

"O-okay."

"I SAID SHUT UP! THAT MEANS DON'T LET ME HEAR A PEEP OUTA YOU OR YOU'RE DEAD!"

He swallowed and nodded.

"ANSWER ME!"

Naruto blinked. "I understand."

"DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME? I SAID SHUT UP!"

Neji nudged her. "I think you're being a little too hard on him. I've finished the trap while you were arguing. You certainly made a commotion there. You can let him go now."

Sakura immediately returned to her cheerful self, and everyone sighed in relief. "You've finished it? Good job, Neji!" She patted him on the back. "Now phase one is complete!" The last sentence was whispered with the aura of an evilly wicked master of evil wickedness.

He sweatdropped. Then the two of them ran over to Gaara.

"Hi Gaara!" He looked up to see them. "What 'cha doing?"

"Guarding the flag," he said monotonously.

"Well, that's nice." She chuckled nervously. "Care to play a game of chess?"

"You have a chessboard?"

She blinked and pulled at the neck of her shirt. "Well, not really."

"Then why did you ask me to play chess?"

Sakura leaned in, resting her arm on his shoulder and shaking her head. "Gaara, Gaara, Gaara. You always have so much common sense." She started walking away.

Neji caught up with her, scowling. "Why didn't you grab the flag while you had the chance, like you did with Ino?"

She put a hand on his arm. He blushed a little (whoa, I might be typing that Neji likes Sakura in the next second!), but didn't make a move to push her off.

"I told you, I can't trick Gaara. I know him. He'll simply tag me right off the bat. He's a really fast runner, though it doesn't seem like it. Or, he'll signal to his teammates to chase me into a trap or something." She looked at him.

"You have a lot of logic," he scoffed. "Maybe I could have a hand at him."

"Perhaps you may."

The two looked at each other and grinned foolishly (sounds a bit strange, don't know why I put that there). They knocked fists (shrug).

And thus, the new plan of their future success began to form.


	8. Neji and Sakura's Triumph

a/n: Yo, peeps. I decided to make Sakura's ninja classes every Tuesday and Thursday. I think I spent too many chapters on the game… ya know, capture the flag. It's getting a little boring. Too many …s and how everyone's doing. But, I can't just leave it there, so I'm gonna finish it! Yay me!

I'VE DECIDED TO MAKE HOME EC ART INSTEAD OF … well, home EC. So, Kurenai is going to teach art.

Thx to all of you who review, ur reviews inspire me! And anyone who has any ideas that I could use in my story can go ahead and tell me. Yeah, I've already got some in mind, but it's better for a variety to choose from. And I DON'T OWN NARUTO, OK!

K, it's the 8th chap!

Chapter 8

Neji and Sakura's triumph

Neji's team won. Yes, they won the whole thingummy, starting with a modified Capture the Flag and ending with a completely different game. How, you ask? Well. That's a different story for a different chapter.

…

Which is this one.

Hinata and Lee were still extremely alert, even after an hour into the game. That was when their luck hit.

Tenten had been wandering around, wondering when her two teammates would finally finish their arrangements. She had accidentally wandered too close to the opposite team's base, therefore running into a trap.

Darn.

_How am I going to get out of this one?_

Tenten started yelling at the top of her lungs. "OI! SHIKAMARU, CHOUJI!" She waved her arms while swinging back and forth.

Shikamaru prodded his teammate. "Chouji, something's amiss. Thou are in trouble! Thus, our entire team shall fail. Come! We must save the chance while we can!"

Chouji scratched his head. "Uh, Shikamaru, are you okay?"

He snapped out of it. "Oh, yeah." He shook his head, as if trying to get rid of his thoughts.

"Come on, we have to make up a new plan if we can't get Tenten down from there. Let's give it a go."

So, the two hurried over to her side. They tried pulling on the rope, but it didn't do anything but make her complain loudly.

They gave up.

"What are we going to do?" he groaned.

"Well, Tenten can't get the flags. I'm too lazy, you're too – out of shape to run – so what _can_ we do?"

"Hm… I suppose we could always trade spots. Gaara, I hear, is a fast runner. We could guard the flag after finishing our traps, and then swap."

Chouji stared at him. "Shikamaru, you're a genius!"

That's how they began to chuckle evilly and rub their hands together…

"Time for some serious planning."

Neji and Sakura were totally grinning. Or, at least Sakura was. They had the perfect scheme. Now all they had to do was put it to use.

Sakura ran towards Gaara with rope in hand. She speedily tied him up. He just looked at her.

"Hey Gaara! This is my excellent plan in action. Now, if you be good, you can have a chip!"

He blinked. "Whatever."

-

Shikamaru and Chouji were in trouble. They had no idea what they were going to do.

"Look's like we'll have to win simply by quick wit and action." Shikamaru sighed.

"Seems like it's our only option." They looked back to their base simultaneously, both seeing Gaara bound in ropes and a feisty Sakura talking to him. Chouji groaned. "We're doomed."

"Totally," Shikamaru agreed.

"What? Why a change a mood?" Chouji was on the verge of throwing his chip bag on the ground and stomping on it (uh-oh…). "We're gonna lose if we don't move!"

"Right." He leaned back (on… air?) and looked at his nails.

…

Yeah, in this story, there are too many …s.

Lee shouted, "ALL FOR THE SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH! SAKURA, NEJI, HURRY UP AND GET THE FLAG ALREADY!"

"WE'RE WORKING ON IT!" Sakura shouted back.

"Hey, Lee. Do you like spinach-flavored ramen?" Naruto had snuck up on the green – er – person, and was now poking him to no end.

"The youthful Springtime of Youth calls youthfully for the youthfully youthful youthfullest (I no, that's not a word) of the youthfullest, youthful Naruto."

He scratched his head. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means … YOUTH!"

Lee scared the crap out of the poor guy, making him try (keyword: try) to scramble as far away as possible.

-

Sakura was attempting to throw the end of a knotted rope over one of the metal bars at the ceiling. She could easily have climbed up and done it, but decided to experience what it was like to be a regular, no-ninja-talent person.

"Wow, we've progressed," Neji muttered sarcastically.

"Says the person who screamed like a girl when he got caught in a trap that made him scared to drop one foot to escape."

"I did not scream!" Neji was officially offended. Uh-oh.

"I just – er – expressed my thoughts at that time."

"By screaming?" She smirked.

"I did not! And anyway, my hair was going to get ruined. See, you nearly cut off this part -"

"Shut up, girl-boy," Sakura snapped. She grasped the rope end in her left hand, and then jumped up to a lower bar, grabbing it with her free hand. She swung up, landed her feet on the same bar, and flipped up again, this time reaching the metal pole she'd been aiming for. Finally, Sakura slipped the rope over it and made a loose knot.

After grasping the rope once again tightly in her hand, she back flipped from the spot and landed neatly next to Neji.

"That good enough for you, girl-boy?"

Witnesses were amazed with her performance, especially Sasuke. Sure, they knew that she was a ninja, but what exactly could ninjas do?

Gaara had his same tedious look. He had seen his friend show-off many times before, and this was definitely not a first. Even so, sometimes she put on a prominent show.

"Impressive." Neji gave her a bland look. "But you didn't have to draw everyone's attention here."

"It was necessary." She haughtily flipped her radiant pink hair over her shoulder.

And the game continued.

Chouji was pacing back and forth, rapidly stuffing potato chips into his mouth. Crumbs flew everywhere, also showering Shikamaru.

"Watch it," he grumbled, flicking a speck towards Neji's group's flags. No sudden inspiration came to him.

"We could make a distraction over here in this part of the gym, and then one of us could untie Gaara – no, that wouldn't work. Or, possibly, just sneak over and grab their flags. Wait, they aren't that stupid. Oh! We can-"

"Chouji, relax. It's only a game, or have you forgotten?"

He paused in his chip-devouring to consider the thought. "You're right. Why don't we just lose the game already? It's getting on my nerves."

"Right, but we have to pretend to make an effort. The performer that's obviously going to lose always puts on a better show."

Does that make sense? …

Neji was tugging the rope that Sakura had oh-so generously put up. He expertly twirled it around, hooking it on another bar. Then he tossed it at his teammate, who was chatting furiously with the silent Gaara.

"Catch. Don't waste time like that."

Her arm flew up and snatched the rope out of the air without her having to turn around. "I know," she said coldly. "Just having … some fun."

By talking to a puppet? (Obviously, Gaara's not a puppet, for those who don't know, but talking to Gaara is like talking to a puppet, so…!)

Sakura tied the rope end onto one of the other ropes that held Gaara captive (heehee) and pulled slightly on it to test if it would hold. It did.

She yanked on the knotted rope end that she had brought down, and several things happened at once.

Gaara was in between the floor and the ceiling, which meant that he was ON THIN AIR.

Shikamaru and Chouji were throwing chips at them.

Naruto had tripped and fell flat on his face, while in the middle of talking about ramen.

Sakura glanced up to where Gaara was – where she thought he was, anyway. Instead, she saw – Gaara, but he was rope-free, crossing his arms in an arrogant manner and standing on one of the metal bars.

Sakura slapped her forehead. Neji, who had also seen their escaped prisoner, sighed. "And would you care to tell me how he got up there like that?"

The pink-haired girl sadly shook her head. "I forgot all about him. Gaara is also sort of a ninja, but he's not as experienced as me." Here she smirked a little, enjoying her victory. "But, he's exceptionally skilled at untying knots and tangled ropes. Also, he can control a fair amount of sand."

"This is bad! What can we do?" Neji was near the brink of pulling his precious hair. Wait – he would NEVER do that.

"Dunno. BUT, Gaara's ninja skills will not, in all of world history and future, match up to mine," Sakura said smugly, in a boasting manner.

"Man, you're just like Naruto."

"WHAT WAS THAT?"

"Er, nothing."

Suddenly, Gai shouted, "HELLO, MY YOUTHFUL STUDENTS! REMEMBER ME, YOU'RE YOUTHFUL TEACHER? WELL, I HAVE A VERY YOUTHFUL ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE ABOUT YOUTH. ACTUALLY, IT'S NOT REALLY ABOUT YOUTH, MY YOUTHFUL STUDENTS, BUT I'M JUST TRYING TO PASS YOUTHFUL LEE'S RECORD ON THE MOST YOUTHFUL YOUTH-WORDS IN ONE BREATH-"

He nearly collapsed. After breathing deeply and gasping for a couple of minutes, their youthful gym teacher had recovered enough to go on with the point of him speaking.

"Eight youthful youth-words in one sentence," Gai muttered, obviously talking about his youthful student, "yet I must speak an entire paragraph to pass him. AND I WAS OUT OF BREATH! DISGRACEFUL, I SAY!"

"Get on with your point," Sasuke grumbled.

"Huh? Oh. Yes, of course. I have decided that Capture the Flag has lasted too long. Neji's team and Shikamaru's team shall begin a new game. The group who wins will, as I said before, get a special surprise… and for the ones who lose, then off to the track to run youthful laps!"

"YES, GAI-SENSEI!" Lee shouted.

(Please note that during the men in green's conversation, a sunset over an ocean has taken place as background.)

"Rock Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Rock Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Rock-"

"SHADDUP!" The class once again offered their useful advice. Student and teacher both did so, sniveling.

Gai at last drew himself up. "Alright, back to whatever I was saying. In fact, I forgot what I was saying. Does anyone know what I was saying, because I have to know what I was saying to say what I have to say. Doesn't anyone remember what I was say-"

Sasuke growled dangerously, taking the kunai that Sakura had _generously_ given to him. "Get on with the point."

Their gym teacher gulped, backing away slightly. "O-oh, what a coincidence. I've just remembered. You will have a short break, and then I will explain the rules to you. But before you go, let me warn you… the game you will be playing is extremely perilous. You might even lose a limb."

He gave them all a hard, beady-eyed stare.

"…Or your life."


	9. A Game Of

A/N: was that a cliffy? Sorry… I'll explain it in this chapter. Gai sometimes … stretches the truth a bit….

If u didn't know, math, history, botany, and art are 1 hour each. Gym is 2 hours, lunch is 45 minutes, and break is 30 minutes. That equals 7 hours 15 minutes, which is the amount of time they have at their school. From 8:15 to 4.

77 reviews! Awesome! But, could u guyz plz review _more?_ I'm tellin' ya, more reviews give me a greater urge to write.

Any ideas for this story are welcome, but otherwise, time to get typing!

C ya

Chapter 9

A Game Of…

All three groups stopped for a break, each muttering about the new game Gai had mentioned. The two groups who were said to play had shifty eyes, all except for Sakura. She was as calm as could be.

"Aw, come guys, its not that bad. And you're not allowed to let your students play life-threatening games, for Gai. If one of us even breaks a finger or so, we can sue him! Yay!"

Everyone looked at her, slightly terrified.

"…Sorry…"

The teams walked back to the gym, preparing themselves for the telling of what game they were to play. Neji, Sakura, Lee, Hinata, Shikamaru, Chouji, Tenten, and Gaara walked towards the center, where Gai stood.

He eyed them all, as if wondering if they were worthy enough to know the game they would be playing.

"Ahem… This dangerous game you are about to play… Are you sure you want to know?"

Several of them twitched, and Neji glared at him.

Gai immediately cleared his throat again, nervously. "I'll take that as a yes. Well, the game you are going to take part in…"

The two teams subconsciously leaned in closer.

"Is…"

Now they were all crowded around their gym teacher, who was wheezing, not being able to breath correctly. Sakura, being one of the first to notice, quickly fanned out the people who were continuously inching closer.

He coughed a bit more, before managing, "The g-game you will be p-playing is…"

"Duck Duck Goose."

-

Everyone's jaws dropped. "_What_?" they all spluttered simultaneously.

Gai, who had again miraculously recovered, said, "I will now explain the rules. You will be-"

"We all _know_ how to play a dumb game like that," Tenten protested.

"Uh…"

All eyes shifted towards Sakura.

"Um, I don't…"

They all sweatdropped.

"You… don't?" Neji gritted out. Even he knew how.

"Oh well, all for the better." Gai beamed at her. "The game is once again tweaked a bit. Here are the rules: The eight of you will be in a circle. One of you will begin the game. As most of you know, the player who's 'it' first taps everyone's head and says either 'duck' or 'goose.' You always say duck until you reach the person of your choice. Then you tap his/her head and say goose."

He took a deep breath and started again. "The person who has been tapped must get up and chase the 'it' person around the circle. The 'it' tries to run and sit down in the other person's spot. If he/she doesn't tag the 'it' person, then the person who hasn't tagged him/her starts the game again, saying 'duck' or 'goose'. He/she becomes the 'it' person. The game continues. If he/she _does_ tag the 'it', then the 'it' is out, the circle is smaller, and, once again, the game will go on. When the number of people in the circle decreases to five, then everyone, including Shino's team, joins the circle. You can't 'goose' them if you're 'it', but you only have to run one lap. And so on and so on…"

Gai stood there, panting. "Got that?"

Hinata shyly asked, "Then how do we win?"

"Simple." He drew himself up and started to speak. "The game continues, with each team trying to get someone from the other team out. Each time someone gets out, you have to do an added lap. Like, say Neji got out."

The Hyuga scowled.

"Then, instead of one lap around the circle, you have to do two. If Tenten gets out after that, then on the next turn you'll have to run around the circle three times. The game ends when there are only one team's players left in the circle. That could mean one player of either team is left, or two, three, and possibly four."

Gai waved a hand in front of them. "Amazing, I haven't said one youthful word in those twenty-three sentences. Ah well, the Springtime of Youth shall always be with me! And do you get it now?"

All of them nodded, with Lee shouting about youth.

"Good. Now get in a circle."

All of them complied, with some shuffling and murmurs of "Ouch! That was my toe, you idiot!" "W-where should I s-sit?" "Chouji, g-get off!" "Hey, watch it!" and "EEK!"

Finally they were comfortable in their positions. Well, not really, considering that Chouji was half-sitting on Shikamaru, whose elbow was in Neji's hair (gasp!), who was grumbling about Tenten nearly pulling off his arm, who was – well, pulling on Neji's arm and so on. But, they were situated in a good-enough circle to begin the game.

"Hm… Gaara, you shall begin the game."

He slowly stood up, uneasy with his task. But, he did it, anyway. Gaara reached his hand out…

Thirteen pairs of eyes watched him.

(They are all sitting in a circle in the clockwise order: Gaara, Hinata, Shikamaru, Sakura, Chouji, Lee, Tenten, and then Neji.)

He warily poked Hinata's head (heehee!) and something similar to a squeak but not high-pitched emitted from his mouth. "Duck…"

Everyone's thoughts immediately flew around.

Hinata:_ He's poking my head… it's strange… Gaara scares me. W-why did Gai make us play this game? I never really l-liked Duck Duck Goose, and especially when I was little. Neji did, though…_

Shikamaru: _Man, this is troublesome. I was never the type to run or anything, especially not in a childish game like this. No one on my team seems the kind to run, either, except maybe Tenten. Who knows…_

Sakura: _Yes! I've never played Duck Duck Goose before, so this will be my first time. I don't really know how to, even though Gai explained. It sounds like a weird game. Really… who would play this of their own will? Oh well, can't wait for my turn. Heehee…_

Chouji: _Neh! I was never the one to play this game. I'm too – my liking of food prevents me from running. Though, I can roll…_

Lee: _HAHAHAHAHA! THE SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH PREVAILS! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!_

Tenten: _I've never seen Gaara run before. But then again… I haven't seen Sakura, Shikamaru, Chouji, Hinata, or Neji run either for that matter. Wonder what's gonna happen when it's my turn. Wonder who's going to pick me…_

Neji: _MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! (_Just like Lee.) _I LOOOOOOOVE DUCK DUCK GOOSE! I'M GOING TO WIN THIS WHOLE STUPID GAME! BUT THEN AGAIN, NO ONE HAS EVER SEEN ME RUN BEFORE. NEJI HYUGA NEVER RUNS. NO, HE'S TOO PROUD FOR THAT. JUST LIKE UCHIHA, PRODIGIES DON'T RUN. TOO BAD SASUKE'S NOT IN THIS GAME. I'D LIKE TO HAVE SEEN HIM SCAMPER FOR HIS DIGNITY._

Gaara was prodding Shikamaru. "Duck," he said slowly.

Everyone tensed, each emerging from the flood of their thoughts.

"Duck…"

He passed Sakura. "Duck…"

Lee was next. He was bouncing up and down in his seat, enthusiastically grinning. _Probably thinking about youth_, Sakura thought.

Gaara lingered a moment behind Lee. "Goose…"

There were flashes of red and green (Christmas colors!). Sakura wondered why her friend had picked such an opponent. But apparently, she underestimated him.

Before Lee could get up and sprint two steps, Gaara had already run the lap and was now sitting calmly between Chouji and Tenten.

Sakura grinned. "You've improved, Gaara…"

He nodded. "It's your turn, Lee," he said matter-of-factly.

Lee sucked in air and shoved his chest out. "Gaara. I have never seen you run before, and neither have I ever seen anyone run so fast. I promise you, I will defeat you!"

Everyone sweatdropped. Gaara just crossed his arms with a blank expression and gave him the you-better-shut-up-or-else look.

Lee quickly shut his mouth.

He slowly walked over to Neji and cautiously tapped his head. The Hyuga gave an annoyed and terrifying growl for daring to touch his hair, so Lee quickly moved on.

He passed Hinata, Shikamaru, Sakura, Chouji, and Gaara, uttering a weak, "Duck" for each of them. When he reached Tenten, he poked her head, shouted, "Goose!" and started running for his life.

Amazingly, Tenten caught up with him – even after calmly standing up and brushing herself off. Then, she was all roadrunner. She sped by Lee and tagged him easily.

Either she's really fast, or Lee's really slow.

The game went on and on and on…. yawn

Hey, you guyses, I'm too tired to right about what happened, but Neji's team won. Chouji rolled, Shikamaru walked, Tenten ran, Gaara ran faster, Sakura ran even _faster_, Neji strutted daintily liked his dad wanted him to (shudder), Hinata sorta hop-skipped, and Lee, as you all know, ran like the turtle he was looking for in the third chapter.

Well, that about sums it up.

Gai motioned for everyone to gather around him. They all leaned in a football huddle. Hehheh…

"Okay, you all, we're going out on the fields to run laps – everyone but Neji's team. Then you will be able to see what the surprise is. Now go!"

So Shino's and Shikamaru's team both sprinted five laps around the half-mile course (how long is it supposed to be?) Then, panting, they joined Gai, Neji, Lee, Sakura, and Hinata.

Gai presented a large pink package. It was covered with frills, lace, and bows. "Er, my mum gave me my birthday present in here, and I didn't have any other box."

There was an awkward silence. Gai cleared his throat. "Well, youthful tough guys like pink!"

Even Lee was quiet.

"Um, so, for your surprise…"

He opened the box, and dug out an armful of –

Green spandex?

Sakura was first to comprehend what it was. "You mean you're giving us green spandex suits?"

There were gasps from all around.

Lee jumped up, grinning excitedly and thumbs-upping towards everyone. "Yay! My supply of suits went low, so I was hoping to find a store that sells it!"

Not likely.

He rambled on, "Now there's no need! Oh, thank you Gai-sensei!"

A bunch of sniveling was heard.

"Go on, take your suits, then, young 'uns!" Gai said, wiping away a tear of youthful happiness.

….

Neji's group did so, Neji extremely unwillingly (he was prodded by Lee and Gai), Sakura with a disgusted look on her face, Hinata shyly, and Lee enthusiastically.

Sasuke was ever so glad that their team didn't win.

Shikamaru, Naruto, and Kiba were too.

They headed back inside, and Gai sent them off to change back into their regular clothes. The bell would ring in just minutes, and Sakura's next class was –

Botany.

With the Snake Man.

A/n: I decided to make this list of "nicknames" for each of them. You can guess who is who, if you can. Of course, you're welcome to any suggesting or changing of names, but this is just for now, and for your entertainment. Without further ado, I present, just like Gai presented his frilly, lacey box of green spandex – _the list_.

**Mushroom-head (dubbed by pinkperson)**

**Pinkperson (dubbed by mushroom-head)**

**Chicken butt**

**Ramen-freak**

**Uglyblondie **

**Plump 'n chubby**

**Girl-boy**


	10. The Snake Man

A/n: I don't feel like typing anything but the story, so…. O.O

And, sorry to all those REVIEWERS (hint!) out there that I didn't update sooner. I was WAY. 2. BUSY. Oh, and also – SOMEONE GIVE ME A FEMALE MAYBE JANPANESE-ISH NAME FOR A GIRL (OBVIOUSLY) WHO'S GOING TO BE SAKURA'S FRIEND. HURRY UP! I NEED THAT NAME!

oh, and does anyone want me to make another story? if i ever do, it's probably going to be mostly humor, about high school (heh heh) where everyone is the opposite of their own personality. something like that. whatever. just tell me if your interested.

Ahem. Presenting the 10th chapter.

Chapter 10

The Snake Man

Sakura ambled towards her Botany class with an armful of books. She faintly remembered the classroom that Sasuke had pointed out to her from break. It was the one that had a picture of a palm tree on the doorframe.

She had sweatdropped when seeing the picture. Palm trees?

Shrugging, Sakura entered. A few students were already there, some sitting, reading, talking, or – snoring. Sakura spotted Tenten and Hinata and hurried over to them.

"Hi guys – where should I sit?" she said uneasily. However, the two girls smiled. "Let's give her the welcome-you're-the-new-girl-friendly-chat, Hinata. Shall we?"

Sakura blinked.

Tenten made wild sweeping motions with her arms around the classroom. "Sit anywhere you like, Sakura. Orochimaru isn't here yet. I'm telling ya, he's creepy. All he does is talk about snakes."

"But isn't this a Botany class?" she asked.

"Oh sure, but no one actually _cares_," Tenten replied, airily waving her hand as she spoke.

"I see…"

"Anyway, let's chat!"

"Sure…"

Hinata patted the seat two across from hers. "H-here, Sakura, you c-can sit here. T-this is an empty desk."

"Thanks Hinata," Sakura said gratefully as she hurried over and dropped her books onto the top of the desk, making a loud _thwack_.

Everyone's attention was diverted towards her. She sweatdropped and rubbed the back of her head.

"Heh heh, sorry, didn't mean to do that. You can go back to whatever you were doing now." Sakura chuckled nervously.

There was a loud bang, and blue smoke blasted out, causing everyone to choke. Sakura plunged towards the ground, alert.

An eerie voice broke the atmosphere of coughing. "Helloooooo, my student-minions."

"Uh-oh," Tenten managed to say, her hands wrapped around her neck. "He's here early. W-why does he always have to – use – the – smokescreen-"

She collapsed to the floor, out of breath, before popping back up into a sitting position, smiling brightly.

"Wow, is it easy to breathe down here," she remarked, nodding to the slowly inching-away Sakura. "Now let me just get up again – NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Tenten once again fell to the floor, her arm across her forehead in a drastic manner.

"Boy, was Shikamaru right," a _very-familiar_ voice muttered. Sakura looked up in surprise. "Neji!"

"What?" he grumbled, crossing his arms arrogantly.

"You have Botany now too? And how can you breath up there?"

"You're not the only one who has wonderful, amazing talents," he said sarcastically. "Some people can hold their breath."

"You're holding your breath?" Sakura asked, once again startled.

"…Maybe…"

And he, too, crumpled in a heap next to her desk. She sweatdropped.

"Okay…"

Just kidding. That whole Neji-business didn't happen. But he _did _enter the classroom. Crossing his arms arrogantly. With his pointy nose-tip stuck up in the air.

A frightening laugh broke the awkwardness. "Get into your seats, monkey-villains." It was the same voice as before.

Most of the smoke had cleared away, and standing at the front of the classroom was – Sakura didn't even know what it was – but it had long, black hair, pale skin, and weird color-markings on its face. Oh, and it was wearing a polka dot dress, complete with red high heels, tons of jangley bracelets, and – was that makeup?

…

Just kidding – again. But there _was_ an it at the front of the room, with long black hair, pale skin, and colored markings on his face. Yes, this was Orochimaru.

The Snake Man.

But Sakura didn't know that.

Yet.

It - now confirmed as a he, walked forward. He raised his arm, and a snake patterned with red, black, and yellow rings slithered out of his sleeve.

Several girls screamed, particularly the ones that sat in the front row. Poor them.

Orochimaru gave a wicked, lopsided grin, and the snake retreated back into its hiding place, its job done. "How do you like my pretties?"

…_A plural on the "pretties"? _Sakura wondered.

There was a chorus of hisses that echoed around the room. Well, it didn't really echo, but you get my point –

"O-over there!" someone shrieked. Sakura spun her head to find herself face to face with a python.

"EEK!" she heard Tenten (now recovered) screech. There was a faint thud as Hinata fell to the ground, stunned.

"Are you okay Hinata?" a frantic voice shouted. It was Naruto. He hopped out of his seat and ran over to the unconscious girl, using his hands to fan her.

"Wake up!" he yelled. "HELLO! CAN YOU _HEAR_ ME?"

"Shut up, Naruto!" Tenten whispered fiercely. Naruto quickly turned to argue, but she merely pointed to Sakura.

Who was still staring, unblinkingly, at the snake.

"Wow," Naruto muttered. "I bet twenty bucks that the snake wins – hey! Ow!"

He, too, fell backwards to the ground on his back. Sasuke stood in front of him, glaring, with his fist outstretched.

"Shut up, dobe!" he muttered, even though aware of his reckless friend being out cold.

Orochimaru was watching the scene with much amusement. He was especially interested in how the new girl would act – was she to freak out and run out of the classroom in fear? Or, would she possibly be cool about it?

Sakura was silent. The two kept at their staring contest (which was what Naruto was talking about when he said that thing about the snake winning). She finally made a move.

Reaching out slowly, Sakura took the snake's neck (somewhere there, okay!) and wrung it, her hands now moving like lightning. She grabbed the snake's tail with her other hand and knotted the ends together, ignoring the creature's hiss of protest. Therefore, she made a lasso. Swinging it above her head, standing on her desk, and yelling inaudible things, Sakura threw the knotted snake across the room, towards her "Botany teacher."

It landed looped around his neck.

Applause.

…Just kidding.

Okay, here's what _really_ happened.

Sakura slowly extended her hand and patted the snake's head. It, for once, blinked, and – purred? Whatever. It was satisfied with the result. Oh, the many times Orochimaru had used him for testing the new students. _Would they pass his expectations? _he always doubted.

For this kid, yes.

"That was really cool, Sakura!" Tenten exclaimed, reflecting back on the event concerning the python with great interest as the trio (with Hinata) strolled out to their last class of the day. "How did you just stay so calm, patting the snake's head and everything?"

Sakura shook her head, remembering a little event during the Botany class…

**Flashback**:

_After all the commotion was over, the Botany class began. Orochimaru was talking about garter snakes and their habitats when Sakura raised her hand._

_He didn't see her yet, being way to busy to catch sight of her hand waving around frantically in the air._

_Tenten, meanwhile, was whispering to Hinata. "Hey, tell Sakura not to ask Orochimaru about his snakes."_

_She nodded, and murmured to Kiba, who was sitting next to her, "T-tell Sakura not t-to ask the t-teacher about h-his s-snakes."_

_He nodded and turned to the pink-haired girl, who's hand was still in the air. He leaned over and muttered, "Don't ask Orochimaru about his-"_

"_Yes, Ms…"_

"_Sakura Haruno," Sakura replied. Her hand fell to her side. "I'd like to ask why you're talking about snakes when this is a Botany class."_

_Kiba groaned, as did many of the other students in the room._

_Orochimaru licked his lips, revealing a long, creepy tongue. Sakura shuddered inwardly._

"_Well, Ms. Haruno, snakes are important to Botany." He sounded as if someone had poured oil down his throat. "In order to fully percept the comprehension of plants, everyone must get through the concept of these reptiles."_

_He went on and on about how Botany and snakes connected and by the time he was finished, Sakura was literally bored to death, her eyes half-lidded in an attempt to keep them open. _

"_So, Ms. Haruno, do you understand now?" _

"_Huh?" She jerked up, quickly wiping some saliva that was trickling down the corner of her mouth (ew, but apparently she drools in her sleep). "Er, yes sir."_

"_Good." And he drifted away, back to the front of the class._

End of Flashback 

"Hurry, or else we'll be late for-" Sakura checked her schedule. "Art. With Kurenai (they just call all the teacher's by their first names or whatever)."

(Tenten and Hinata have Art with her, duh)

They came to the door with the red eye on the doorframe. Sakura paused slightly before pushing it open, to reveal …

several things.

Number one: a green-spandex ball ricocheting around off the walls, causing plenty of chaos by itself: students were diving out of the way with fear clear in their eyes.

Number two: a dark-haired someone was leaning against a wall, arms crossed. Swarming crowds of screaming girls with hands outstretched _tried _to reach him, all _poetically _expressing their love to him.

"SASUKE, GO ON A DATE WITH ME! THE FLOWERS, THE HEARTS, THE CHOCOLATES, AND ALL OF THOSE!"

"SASUKE! MARRY ME!"

"NO, SHE'S A SNOTTY WITCH, YOU WOULDN'T WANT THAT."

"SHUT UP! WHO WAS THAT? COME HERE AND I'LL GIVE YOU A BASHING!"

In fact, the fangirls were too busy insulting and arguing with each other that they _momentarily forgot what the cause of the commotion was!_ Sasuke was still leaning there, amidst them all, surly.

Tenten, Hinata, and Sakura each sweatdropped. Unexpectedly, they heard a cry.

"No, stop it, you atrocious, ghastly, corpulent, not-deserved-to-be tormenter!"

The three whirled around.

Here was the scene: three HUGE bully-peoples were towering over two much-shorter girls. The taller one seemed to be defending the other. She was glaring lethally at the biggest (and that's saying something) guy, who had a backwards cap smashed on. He looked to be the leader of the group and didn't seem troubled about her fierce scowl.

"Oh, and what you gonna do about it?" he taunted, that only making her more furious.

She exploded. "YOU FREAKIN' COWARD! THERE ARE YOU'RE BUDDIES, ALL BUNCHED UP BEHIND YOU! I'LL BET ALL THREE OF YOU ARE AS SCARED AS A FAT PIG FACING AN AXE! NONE OF YOU CAN STAND UP TO A REAL MAN, HUH?"

The first one's eyes narrowed. He pointed a finger at her, shaking with rage. "What did you say?"

She stuck out her lip defiantly. "I said, you lot are just measly fat daisies, clinging together and all-"

He let out a roar and lunged forward. The girl nimbly dodged, bringing the younger girl with her. She rushed ahead herself, intending on kicking him, when suddenly, she was scooped up off her feet and held by her ankle, upside-down. Her capturer was one of the two who had been slouching behind before.

"Hey, boss, what should I do with this one?" he grunted.

"She's just a useless piece of dirt. Throw her out, Mo."

Sakura abruptly burst. "Dirt is useful, you know."

The leader (we'll just call him Boss) turned to look at her. He laughed, an unpleasantly grating sound.

"You? Who are you? Just another new kid who's come to challenge me?" he sneered. "Well, just a warning, shortie, no one has ever defied me after what I did to Maureen Stuflewicker (I had to come up with a name, okay!). He stayed at the hospital for almost two months, and after that begged to go to a different school. Huh, the wimp."

"Well, you aren't scaring any of me." Sakura smirked. "She's right. You all are just afraid. _You're_ the useless ones."

He glared at her, advancing slowly. Sakura made no move to escape, but just stood her ground, clenching her teeth and fists and replying silently with a glare of her own to rival Boss's. Neither Tenten, Hinata, the two girls, Boss, or his cronies realized that the rest of the classroom's students had gathered around them, watching the free show with bags of buttered popcorn in hand. Sakura was slightly aware of it, though she was concentrating too hard on Boss's antics.

"I'd hate to hurt a pretty little thing like you (oooooooh!)," Sasuke ground his heel into the ground, also listening from a distance, "but I've no choice. You wretched twit, now you're going to pay!"

And he charged, fist at the ready.

Sakura sidestepped so swiftly that no one caught the movement. Boss, however, missing his target, tried to brake and turn, but to no avail. He crashed his bulky self into a cabinet.

Growling in anger, he stood up and started to run towards the pink-haired girl again. But this time Sakura was prepared. She drew her fist back, and **_POW!_**

Boss flew over the desks and chairs and out the open window, gasping, "You will paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!"

…Sorry, I kid too much these days. Instead of flying out the window, he flew backwards into the tables, the force of the punch completely knocking the breath out of him. There was a whish of air, and he instinctively looked up. The same pink-haired girl was there, a determined yet slightly sad look on her face.

"Uh oh…"

Yep, right choice of words, ol' chap!

Sakura front flipped, stretching out her right leg in midair, and brought her heel crashing down on his shoulder.

…Ouch….

At that same moment someone opened the door…

"What's going on in here?" a voice questioned. Kurenai, their black-haired, red-eyed teacher, walked in, carrying a stack of art supplies.

"Sorry I'm la- whoa! What happened here?"

Sakura was politely dusting of her jeans. She looked up innocently, and said, "I'm the new student here. When I got in the room, everyone was crowded around this table. I didn't know what happened, so I went over and saw – this-"

She pointed at Boss, who was moaning and clutching his shoulder.

"That looks like a pretty bad kic- whatever it is, I think he should go to the nurse."

"Well, of course!" Kurenai nodded curtly. "You two, Mo and Bobah, get him out of here. Meanwhile, everyone get his or her book and paints. Yes, we're painting today. Sakura, come here while I get things settled a bit."

Tenten and Hinata grinned (or at least in Hinata's case, she smiled) at her. "Good one," Tenten mouthed as the two headed towards the countertop to retrieve their books.

"Thanks," Sakura mouthed back, before walking towards Kurenai. She smiled at her new student.

"Hang on for a sec, Sakura, I have to remind the class how to paint…"

She stood up. "Everyone, look over here."

The students looked up.

"Here's how to go, for those who don't know. Oh! I rhyme! Wow, maybe I should be a poet…"

She cleared her throat. "Okay. This is how you do it."

Kurenai picked up her paintbrush, dipped it in a cup of water, and dabbed some red paint on it. She studied the canvas (if that's what it's called) for a moment before gripping the brush in her hand and muttering, "Up! Down! Smooth strokes! Alright, go!"

She reached forward and started painting – if you could call it that, at least. It looked as if their teacher was having a catfight one-handed with a paintbrush, and her enemy was the canvas. Simply put, it was strange.

In two minutes, Kurenai put down her paintbrush with a sigh of satisfaction. She stood up and presented it to everyone.

Sakura gasped. On the canvas was a picture of a beautiful rose, delicate, yet elegant and grand all at once. How she managed to make a picture like that out of such furious, rough strokes, Sakura would never know. After gently setting the board tilted against a nearby wall for anyone to come up and look at, Kurenai made for her desk. Reaching the open-mouthed Sakura, she smiled.

"Now, what was I going to do?"

Sakura sweatdropped. This definitely was the longest day of her life.


	11. Stampede on the School Grounds

A/n: u should b thankful that I posted up such a _long _chapter last time! Or, at least _I_ think it was long. HELLO OUT THERE! CAN THE WORLD HERE ME? YODELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL! Okay… well, tell me if u have any ideas that I might put in my story. Thx! And from now on, I want to TRY to make this fic "humorful".

Oh, and I thank ducksrule555, moodiful819, and darkfire can purehearts for the ideas of the names! I'll use ALL of them! Check it out!

Nakarame-Scarlet and Kokiiru-kun, I also thank you for the ideas, but I already plan for something else. Maybe I will use your names for later on in the story, but for now, I'M SORRY!

Gaara, Tenten, Sasuke, Sakura, Tenten, and Hinata are the ones that r going to go to Ichiraku… so far… (if that's what it's called. I know the story's not Japanese, but whatever, the ramen stand in this story is called Ichiraku!)

Chow! (…Or however u spell it…)

Chapter 11

Stampede on the School Grounds

Once Sakura was settled in with a new book, canvas, and paints, she picked up her paintbrush and glanced warily around her. Everyone was painting, some attempting to copy Kurenai's signature move, some leaning in so close that their noses were almost touching the canvas as they painted, and some seeming as if they were tickling the canvas with the tip of the brush.

Looking back at her own white canvas, Sakura dipped her paintbrush in the cup of water and pondered what to draw. When she had peeked around the room, she caught glimpses of dogs (Kiba), something that looked somewhat distinctly to a certain chicken-haired person (Ino, duh, she was giggling), and varieties of flowers. Still uncertain, Sakura immersed the paintbrush in the blue paint.

She brought it up, her hands trembling slightly, and brush met canvas. Immediately after they connected, Sakura's arm began moving at its own will. Deep, blue paint started to spread.

She delicately flicked her wrist; the tips of a bird's wings revealed themselves. Sakura continued with her administrations, humming softly. When she at last pulled away and set down her brush, she was extremely surprised to find a blue jay poking its beak at her, its wings spread in flight and tinted with lavender, white, and turquoise. It was beautiful.

Meanwhile, Kurenai was making her way across the room, pausing here and there to inspect each student's picture. She would occasionally make a comment or suggestion. When she reached the still-bewildered Sakura, she gave a slight gasp.

"Amazing! Tremendous, I say! Sakura, is this your first time painting?" All eyes turned towards her.

"Er-"

That was the only thing she could say.

"W-well, I seem to recall that my mother was a painter," she managed.

"I see." Kurenai was now only a foot away from the painting. "Interesting," she murmured, stroking her chin like Detective Holmes (I dunno!).

…

Someone's watch beeped. Everyone instinctively looked towards the clock: it was 3:59 – five – four – three – two – one –

_BRING!_

Each person collected their supplies and brought them up towards the counter, carelessly tossing them up and then hurrying out of the classroom. Sakura caught sight off a flash of raven-colored hair disappear through the door.

She felt a tug at her sleeve and turned. Facing her was the girl from before who had been defending the other.

"Hi," she said shyly, especially compared to what had happened with Boss.

"Hey," Sakura replied.

"My name is Ayame. What's yours?" she asked, smiling slightly.

"Sakura. You may be weak-looking on the outside, which is exactly what Boss-like people look for, but inside, you have a tough spirit."

She grinned this time. "Thanks. I like your name."

"Same here. And who was that other girl?"

"Megumi?" Ayame motioned to the same girl as before, gesturing that she should come over.

"This is my little sister. We're also new here – we moved a week ago."

"Ah, that explains some things. Do have any other friends?"

Both of them looked towards the ground sadly. Sakura's eyes flashed.

"You mean you don't have any?"

"No." Ayame's voice was just above a whisper.

"Hey Sakura!" Sakura turned to see Tenten and Hinata, each smiling cheerfully. "Hey – you're the guys from before!"

"They're not 'guys', Tenten," Sakura corrected. "And, they're going with us to Ichiraku. If Sasuke won't pay for them, then I will."

"W-what? Y-you don't have to, Sakura," Ayame said quickly, with Megumi nodding silently in agreement. "It's okay. Our mom probably expects us home anyway."

Sakura winced slightly when she said 'mom', but otherwise didn't move. Then she spoke. "No. I insist you come. We're going with some more people, and we'll introduce you. I'm sure that everyone will be glad to have you two as friends."

Sakura gave Tenten and Hinata a meaningful look as the two sisters flashed each other glances. Then Ayame nodded to Sakura.

"It's fine, we can come. But only if you want us to… Are you sure you haven't changed your mind?"

"If course not! Just be in the school grounds by 4:10, we'll tell Sasuke that they're coming. So, see you in a few minutes!"

The trio waved and disappeared among the crowd. Ayame and Megumi had small smiles on their faces as they, too, mingled with the horde of students dismissed from school.

At the school grounds:

"WHERE THE HECK ARE THEY?" Naruto shouted impatiently.

"Dobe, you just want your ramen," Sasuke commented dryly.

"Well..."

"There they are," Gaara sudden said, cutting in just as Naruto was about to retaliate. Perking up, he smiled brightly and waved to the - five people exiting the school. Wait, five?

"Who are they?" Sasuke asked suspiciously.

"Hi Gaara, Sasuke, Naruto!" Sakura called. "This is Ayame, and her sister Megumi."

"What are they doing here?" Sasuke muttered.

Sakura gave him a sharp look. "They're here because I invited them," she said coldly.

_...She has good hearing_, he thought grudgingly.

"Well, anyway, they're going with us to Ichiraku," Sakura went on, determinedly ignoring Ayame's and Megumi's protests. "Let's go, it's already 4:12."

Sasuke led them to his convertible, nervously casting glances around in case any of his fangirls were nearby. Suddenly, a stray girl walking in the opposite direction a few paces away stopped.

She threw off her sunglasses (...let's just say she had sunglasses, and that there was sun) and screamed before throwing herself on the Uchiha, molesting him.

"SASUKE! MARRY ME!"

A bunch of other girls, upon hearing this, turned towards the group and started to shriek.

They stampeded over him, and unfortunately, his convertible (...how strong), too. Sakura, Ayame, Megumi, Tenten, Hinata, Naruto, and Gaara were all unharmed. They just stood towards the side, crossing their arms and staring aimlessly as Sasuke was covered with glitter, perfume, and lipstick.

"Help!" he mouthed towards the unfeeling group, but they didn't respond.

...What a bunch of great friends.

Eventually, the crowd thinned, and Sasuke could be seen once more amidst flower petals and swooning girls. Sakura blinked, then cried out in horror, "Oh my gosh! Are you okay?"

Sasuke smiled (inwardly) gratefully, glad that Sakura had regained her senses. He waited for her to come and help him out.

But she rushed past him, his convertible, and a few trees that survived the brutal bashing from the fangirls. Instead, she came to a halt in front of a squirrel flattened in the fangirls' mad dash.

A murderous intent surrounded her directed mainly toward the Sasuke-obsessed freaks. Everyone gulped and took three steps back, three GIANT steps back away from the battered prodigy and the enraged girl. There was no knowing what Sakura could do when she was angry.

The object of terror at the moment slowly swiveled around to face the bruised and bleeding heartthrob, a black aura surrounding her.

Sasuke visibly winced (and it wasn't from the few scattered fangirls left jumping on his already injured back, though that might have contributed).

Dispersing rabid Sasuke-loving girls in her wake, Sakura slowly crunched over to where Sasuke lay among the makeup. She growled dangerously and motioned at the poor squirrel. "What did you do..."

With an "eep", he pointed at the fleeing fangirls. And that action may have saved his life - a bit of it anyway.

Raising a fist, Sakura landed a bone crushing hit on three of the... well, let's just call them "the doomed squirrel-flatteners", "doomed" for short. I'm SURE you know who I'm talking about...

Abandoning the unconscious, Sakura advanced for the kill, brandishing her weapon - a tree branch. And both fists, for that matter.

Her eyes flashed. "Hoooooow. Daaaaaaaare. Yoooooouuu. Huuuuuuurrrrtt. Aaaaaaaaaa. SQUIRRRRREEEEELLLLLLLL." Her voice was low, dark, and ominous.

She took out a kunai and twirled it. The sharp point whizzed in the air.

Sakura looked up to see the clouds of dust from the doomed run-aways. "Oh, fiddlesticks!" she cried, suddenly snapping back to her old self. She threw the kunai over her shoulder.

When she turned, the kunai was embedded deep in the ground, an inch away from the quivering mass that was once Uchiha Sasuke's face.

* * *

A/n: hello, my readers/reviewers. My friend was helping me type this chapter. She's a Neji-obsessed fan and HATES Sasuke to death. I think she would have liked to be one of those fangirls just to stomp on him.

Srry to all those Sasuke-fans out there… I guess… and for making this chapter short. I COULDN'T HELP IT! MY FRIEND JUST WENT ON THAT TYPING SPREE I TALKED ABOUT! THE NEXT CHAPTER… will be about Ichiraku.

This Saturday is her birthday. I'm going to try and post another chappie around that time. And good day to you all!

- 957, signing off


	12. Ichiraku

A/n: eh heh, well… I hope ur not mad…

Yep, the fangirls r scary…

Maybe Sakura should bash them a bit more.

Sakura: LET ME AT 'EM!

Tenten restraining her: No! Hinata, HELP ME! She's going to TEAR MY ARMS OFF!

Hinata: S-Sakura, p-please calm d-d-down.

Sakura: NEVER! NOT IN THE YOUTHFUL FLAMING SPRINGS OF YOUTHFUL YOUTH-WATER WILL I EVER DO THAT!

Tenten & Hinata: …gasp!

Hinata: Who a-are you a-a-and w-what have you d-done with Sakura?

Tenten: OR, you're probably just Lee in a pink wig.

Sakura/Lee: Well, er… GOOD DAY! runs off

… that was random. Oh, and how many chapters do you want me to post in all? I've got some ideas for future events, but I've NO IDEA HOW TO END THE FREAKING STORY! HELP ME, ALL WHO HAVE BRAINS!

Whatever. Let's get on with the story. And I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. PERIOD.

Chapter 11

Ichiraku

Finally, Tenten, Hinata, Ayame, and a shy Megumi bent down to help the poor Uchiha. Naruto shrugged and joined them, his words being, "I'm only helping cuz he won't be able to pay for us like this."

Sakura, of course, aided them too, but after cooling off a bit. She, however, didn't seem to have done so completely, since she was muttering curses of the sort towards "the doomed" (see chapter 11 if you forgot). In fact, while bandaging up Sasuke where some of the fangirls had even bitten him, she ACCIDENTALLY yanked too hard, causing Sasuke to go, "meep!" and the other girls (plus Naruto) to burst into fits of giggles.

"Heehee, Sakura, be careful!" Tenten called out, her voice crackling as she stifled laughter.

"Hm?" The pink-haired girl looked up. "What was that?" she asked sweetly.

Tenten, Hinata, Ayame, Megumi, and Naruto immediately stopped laughing. All of them, including Gaara (with Sasuke attempting to stand and run), backed up slowly, fear etched on their faces.

"Sasuke… watch out." Ayame muttered. Too late.

A fist swung down onto Sasuke's head. He narrowly dodged. "What was that fo- ow-"

He clutched his injured limbs (notice the plurals…) in pain.

Sakura froze, and then jumped back to Sasuke. "Oh! I'm sorry! Did I do that? No, wait, what did I do? Oh, never mind. And Sasuke? It looks like they trampled on your new, shiny, black, cool, awesome, high-tech, version 30-"

"Shut up." He glared at her.

"Whatever. Anyway, looks as if we have to walk there," she finished.

"WHAT! BUT I JUST GOT MY MANICURE!" screamed Naruto, waving his hands around in the air. Everyone stared at him. "Uh, sorry, did I say that out loud?" he scratched his head.

"NARUTO! YOU'RE SCRATCHING YOUR HEAD!" Sakura shrieked.

"So?" he shrugged.

"Well, that's not the point… the point is that…"

"Yes?"

"The point…"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, the thing is…"

"Go on."

"What I'm trying to say is…"

Naruto exploded. "JUST SPIT IT OUT!"

"Okay! The point is that you're scratching your head – WITH YOUR MANICURED HAND!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Naruto cried. He fell onto both knees, sobbing.

Suddenly, Neji appeared out of nowhere. He pointed at Naruto. "It is your fate. Deal with it." Then he poofed away.

Sweatdrops for everyone.

"Yo," a voice greeted. Sakura and the others turned and saw… Kakashi, their wonderful math teacher.

The math teacher who doesn't teach his class.

The VERY coughpervertedcough math teacher, who giggles barbarically daily. It's his duty, after all.

Tch, I wish we all had math teachers like that… except ones that don't read "comic" books.

"Well, I have to get back on my schedule. Can't be late, as I always am." He smiled, though no one could really tell under the mask, and also disappeared.

"Okay…"

After a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG walk:

"F-finally… we're here…"

Tenten, Hinata, Ayame, Megumi, and Naruto all collapsed. Sasuke was breathing hard, Gaara walked in with his arms crossed (he didn't even break a sweat), and Sakura – well, Sakura skipped cheerily in, a childish smile gracing her features.

"Hey, old man… (insert Naruto panting like a dog here) I'll take… a … miso ramen…"

"Um, I'll take beef ramen…"

"Miso for me too."

"Chicken! Chicken is the best!"

"I-I suppose I'll get p-pork-flavored ramen…"

"I'll get – I dunno. Oh well, I'll take miso!"

"Beef, please."

That left Gaara's order. "Plain."

"You're so boring, as always!" Sakura remarked, delivering a playful punch to his arm.

Ouch…

"Alright! So, that's three miso ramens (eh heh…), two beef, one chicken, one pork, and one plain. Am I correct?"

"Yes. Now off to get our ramen."

Everyone sweatdropped. Who knew Gaara had such a bossy side?

The eight seated themselves. "N-nothing to do but w-wait now…"

Hinata had reduced her stuttering quite a bit, especially around her newfound friends…

"It's ready!" The ramen shop owner (er, what's his name?) came up with eight bowls (he carried them two at a time or something).

"Wow, that was fast." Everyone muttered. But, they each took his or her bowl of ramen, a pair of chopsticks (…let's just say they now how to eat with them), and began slurping up strands of noodles.

"T-thes ez gud," Naruto managed to say with his mouth full. Hinata blushed slightly and stared at him admiringly. "Eh? Hinata? Why are you red?"

She blushed a further twenty-two shades ranging from light pink to a dark red-purple.

"Hinata? Do you have a fever?"

She nearly fainted. That was when Naruto went as far as to pour his glass of ICE COLD water over her head. She jerked up with an "EEK!"

"Naruto!" Sakura smacked him with her free hand. "I know you had good intentions, but you didn't have to do THAT!"

"I'm sorry…"

"Tell that to Hinata."

He turned to her. "Um, I'm really sorry for that, Hinata."

"It's o-okay…"

Naruto, shrugging, leaned back to his own seat and began to slurp his ramen again. Sakura, with a mischievous smile on her face, whispered into Hinata's ear. "I seem to recall that this morning when I first came here, he was talking about you…"

Hinata blushed furiously. Everyone left it at that.

They all, well, finished their ramen. "Ah, that was good stuff." Naruto patted his stomach.

"Yeah, and now you have to help me pay, dobe."

"Me, help you pay? Now who's the worst?"

Sasuke growled. "Just pay for half of them, at least. At this point, I'll be broke…"

"What? You're rich, remember?"

"I am?"

"Idiot…" Naruto shook his head.

"I'll pay then, if both of you wimps are going to back out." Sakura stepped forward and threw the money on the counter. The old man (let's call him that until I find out his name, if I ever do) smiled and took it. "Thank you and come again!" He shuffled off.

The two boys looked disbelievingly at her. "What did you do that for?"

"No reason. Just that you guys were arguing so much about who was going to pay what, and also, that guy was looking pretty annoyed."

"But-"

She brushed it off. "Quit talking about it already! I paid, and the money's gone. That's all in the past now. Forget it."

Sasuke shook his head. "No, it's not like a Uchiha to let a woman pay for something like that, no matter how small the matter is. At least let me return the favor."

She smirked. "Fine. You owe me. Is that better?"

"I… guess?"

They all walked in separate directions. Sasuke, however, lingered.

"Sakura…"

"Hm?"

"Do you mind… if I walk you home?"

She blinked in surprise. "It doesn't matter, but don't you need to return home or something?"

"No one will be expecting me to go home this early."

"I see… well, if you want to you can."

She turned and started walking away from him. He swiftly caught up.

"So, do you like your new school?"

"Well…" She nodded. "I suppose so."

"What's your favorite class?"

"In math we don't do anything. History is just – never mind about that. Gym is sort of fun, I don't know, but we have a way-out gym teacher. Botany is just weird, we only learn about snakes. And art, that seems to be the best subject."

She smiled, and Sasuke felt his heart lift.

"What – what is your favorite color?" He felt embarrassed to be asking a question like that, but he had to know.

"Hm." She put a finger to her lips in thought, her bright emerald eyes shining. "Perhaps… well, I'm not sure now. Maybe a turquoise color?"

He was taken aback. "I thought it would be pink, or green even. Apparently I thought wrong."

"And here's a guy who admits his defeats." Sasuke looked up. Sakura giggled.

"Oh, here we are. Thanks, Sasuke." He nodded in reply before stuffing his hands into his pockets and slouching off.

She giggled again, before reaching into her own pocket and pulling out a key. She fitted it into the lock and the door opened. The whole time Sakura was deep in thought.

_Why would a popular guy like him want to walk me home?_ she wondered. _Oh well –_ _hey, what's that?_

She glanced at her door. A kunai had been driven through the wood, holding up a piece of paper in its presence. Sakura tore the note off and read it.

_Sakura,_

_It has been some time since our last lesson. I wish you luck at your new school; have you made many friends yet? Your training will be every Tuesday and Thursday at 4:30, so I'll see you tomorrow. We also have an important event coming up that I must tell you about. _

_Until then,_

_Asorayuki._


	13. Midnight

A/n: NEXT CHAPTER IS ALSO QUESTION AND ANSWER TIME! YAY!

…Sorry. Anyway, all of you who have GOOD questions can go ahead and ask them. I might not answer the questions that will be answered in future chapters, or the ones that already have answers in the story. So, just ask if you don't know!

I think that I will be able to update A LOT MORE since this is Fall Break. Aren't I amazing? I updated yesterday and today and a few days ago and so on. So read and review to show your gratitude, please! (Oh, that rhymed!)

I have no further thoughts, except to get on with the story.

Plus, this might be a short chapter; it's only here to make something happen. You'll see…

Chapter 13

Midnight

Sakura entered her house, smiling slightly. She glided into the kitchen, surprised to find a message. Just for her. Who would ever call her?

She pressed the button-thing. A voice crackled out. "Hey Sakura! Are you home yet? Well, apparently not, seeing that you didn't answer this call… But let's get on to important matters. Hinata is hosting a sleepover today at her house, so can you come? Yeah, you might have some stuff to do, but try to make it by 6:30 or so. Bring a sleeping bag, some clothes, obviously, hygienic stuff, and the things you need for school. We're going to go from her house directly to Konoha High. Oh, and we invited Ayame and Megumi, too, they're so excited. Seems as if they've never been to a sleepover before. If you need me, my phone number is …(insert a random number here). Ah well, see you later!"

There was a beep, and then silence. Sakura picked up the phone and dialed the said number. It rang a few times, and then someone answered. "Hello?"

It was Tenten, luckily. Sakura had no idea who her parents were. "Tenten? This is Sakura."

She squealed. "Oh, did you get my message? Can you come?"

"Sure, though I have classes Tuesdays and Thursdays. Er, one thing."

"Yeah?" she chirped.

"Well, how do you get to Hinata's house…?"

There was a loud smack over the phone, and an "ow!" Sakura sweatdropped.

"Uh, s-sorry for not telling you earlier-"

"It's fine," she said firmly, gripping the phone in her hand. "So, where does she live?"

"Oh, that. Do you know Bluck Avenue?"

Sakura nodded before realizing that Tenten wouldn't be able to see her. "Yes."

"Just follow along that street, and you'll come to a crossroad. Take a left, and then you're on Refguardteg (Hehheh…) Road, keep going, the path curves…"

Sakura slowly digested the information, listening intently as her friend concluded her directions. "And then turn left again, you'll see this big, pear-shaped tree if you got it right…"

"Thanks. I'll see you soon. And is there anything else I need to bring?"

"Not at all, my friend, not at all…"

"Okay…"

"¡Hola!" (Or something like that.)

Sakura sweatdropped. "Uh, Tenten…"

"Yah?"

"…Was that Spanish?"

"Sure! Aren't I good at it?" she said happily.

"Er, except the fact that what you said means 'hi'…"

"…It does?"

"Yeah, sort of."

"So…"

"What?"

"Ciao!"

She hung up. Sakura stifled fits of giggles. _And that was Italian…_

Sakura stepped outside, stretching her arms and enjoying the cool breeze. She had decided to talk a walk before packing.

She folded her fingers and put her hands behind her head in a lazy manner. Her thoughts drifted around in her head, much like clouds did in the sky. She, too, was excited to go to the sleepover, having never been to one. Well, Sakura did seem to recall a memory once or twice in the past similar to now, but none of them went very well…

She bent down and drew her hand through the dew-skimmed grass, her fingertips barely grazing a few fallen cherry blossoms (are they even here this season?). She smiled contentedly.

"Meow."

Sakura spun around, her hand whipping to her kunai pouch. But in front of her was merely a black kitten. One that looked very familiar…

She gasped. _It's the same cat from this morning!_ she thought. Sakura gazed at it fondly. It was pure black, except for white patches on its paws and stomach. Its eyes were jade, lightly speckled with gold. For a second Sakura thought that she saw them flash lavender but shook it off.

She inched forward slowly. "Here kitty, I won't hurt you…"

The cat seemed to understand her, standing up and daintily making its way to her arms. Sakura picked it up gently, scratching its ears.

She checked it for a collar. It didn't have one. "Let me see." Sakura stroked its silky fur in thought. "I wish I could keep you… you might be someone else's cat."

It blinked before staring at her, giving a look that said, "just feed me and I'll spare you." Sakura giggled, turned heel, and headed back toward her house. "I know, I can keep you for today, and I'll take you to the sleepover. I hope Hinata won't mind. And I'll ask around for a week to see if you have an owner. Hm, you're acting like you don't..."

The cat seemed to smile.


	14. Sleepover

A/n: **_PLEASE READ ALL MY AUTHOR NOTES!_**

I need more questions… when you lot ask enough questions, no matter which chapter that will be, then I'll answer them. But for now, ASK QUESTIONS!

So, with that out of the way, I'm asking you if you guys have any other ideas you want me to put in the story. And, I've already come to think about the ending. HOW IN THE WORLD SHOULD IT END? Sure, I have a lot of ideas I'm going to use before the story stops, but just share your thoughts with the world.

How many chapters do you want me to make this? I was thinkin' – well, maybe 30 or so… I tink dats a lot!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and never will. –Sniff-

Chapter 14

The Sleepover

Sakura named her Midnight. The cat, of course. After setting her down with a bowl of milk in the kitchen, she set to work on making it a bed. She completed this simply by taking a cardboard box, cutting the top and most of the sides off, then folding an old towel and leaving it in there. Luckily, cats weren't picky.

Midnight was satisfied with it, and almost immediately curled up in her new bed.

Sakura, smiling happily, then took off upstairs to get ready for the sleepover. She grabbed a duffel bag and started to toss things in it: two outfits, one just in case something happened, a sleeping bag rolled up, a book for her entertainment, her toothbrush and all that. She dropped it all next to the front door, along with her heavy backpack.

Then, she snatched another pair of clothes (her PJs, lol) before taking a shower, relaxing under the heat of the water and washing her hair. Sakura stepped out, toweling herself dry.

She dressed in a black tank top (once again) with a large shirt over it and dark blue cargo shorts. Brushing her pink, silky hair, Sakura returned to her room and sat down on her bed, glancing at the clock on the table. 5:49.

_Did it really take that long?_ she thought. Oh well. Not that it mattered. She strapped a watch to her wrist and stood up. Might as well get on with it and go to the sleepover early. Hopefully it wouldn't be too much of a bother.

Sakura skipped downstairs to check on Midnight. She was asleep. Sakura didn't want to wake her up from her peaceful slumber, but if she left the cat at her house unattended, chaos would ensue.

She scooped her up, towel and all. The cat meowed sleepily before closing her eyes once again. Sakura hoisted her bags over her shoulders, and with Midnight in her arms, stepped outside and managed to lock the door.

Sakura walked the entire way to Hinata's house, faintly drawing up the information Tenten had given her. _Um, Bluck Avenue, it's close to where I live. She said to keep going until I see a crossroad… oh, there it is!_

_Then, I'm on that Refergard Road or whatever. Let me see – it's called Refguardteg. Close enough. _

She followed along the road, her eyes washing over the area and taking even the tiniest details in. _Hm, and there's that tree Tenten talked about. _Indeed, in front of her was a pear-shaped tree, fat at the bottom, with barely any leaves left on its branches. Sakura gave a small smile as a mansion came up in her view. Well, at least she _thought_ it was a mansion, having never seen a house that big.

Sakura slowly made her way through the gates after answering a camera-button-beeper thing. She reached forward, about to knock on the door, when suddenly, it flew open. Tenten stood there, beaming.

"Ahoy, mate! What's up?"

Sakura sweatdropped. Tenten gestured that she come in.

"Go on, make yourself at home!"

She gasped when seeing the tiny kitten in her arms. "How cute!" Tenten leaned down to pet it.

"I found her outside, and she might be someone else's cat. I'm going to ask around."

"But she's so sweet!" Tenten stood up, grinning broadly. She called Hinata over. Sakura hadn't even noticed her when she came in.

"Isn't she the most lovable little thing?" she cooed, causing Hinata to blush for her friend's childish actions. But, even the Hyuga had to nod.

"So, Sakura, do you have a name for her? Even if it's temporary?"

"Sure." She scratched her head nervously. "Midnight, even though she does have some white on her."

"That's the perfect name!" Tenten bounded around excitedly. "Come on, I'll show you to the room we'll be sleeping in." And with a last pat to the cat, she literally hopped away.

The two sweatdropped. Sakura handed Midnight to Hinata before finally setting her things down. "I'll be right with her. First, I have to stretch a little… And do you mind that I brought her?"

Hinata shook her head. "N-not at a-all. I will b-bring her to the k-kitchen, and the maids will s-see to her."

The stuttering girl swept off among the hallways and disappeared. There was a sudden pounding. Sakura, raising an eyebrow, opened the door to see Naruto.

"Eh? You? What are you doing here?" she asked. Naruto shrugged. He let himself in and collapsed on a nearby couch. Sakura was about to tell him off when the door was again harassed.

She turned the doorknob to reveal a bored Uchiha. A very confused-looking one, too.

"Sakura? W-what are you doing here?" he questioned, flabbergasted.

"Now you're starting to sound like Hinata," she teased, "no offense to her, of course."

"Y-you live at Neji's house?" He sounded disbelieving, and – what was that? _Jealous? _Sakura frowned at that comment. "I what-"

"Haruno, if you would please stop irritating my guests."

Neji Hyuga strutted in, his head held high (wow, four h's in a row!) Sakura stepped back a little. "Oh, I'm sorry, Neji," she said, her voice laced with sarcasm. "I would gladly do that, if only you could point the way to the room Tenten was talking about-"

He did so, immediately showing the way with a stoic expression on his face.

"Thanks." Sakura smiled at him, then picked up her bags and skipped away.

The three boys stared after her, clearly bamboozled.

In _the room_:

Tenten was stretched out on a small "bed" constructed of sleeping bags pieced together. When she spotted Sakura, she waved her over and told her to spread out her own sleeping bag, too.

She was delighted to see Ayame and Megumi chatting on the corner of the bed. Sakura bounced over and plopped to the floor.

"Hey guys!" she squealed. They each grinned at her. There was a little squeak. With a glance at Sakura's face, Ayame started to laugh. She extended her arm, and a small furry creature leaped onto it.

"It's a _squirrel!_"

"Sure!" Ayame chuckled as the animal blinked its innocent eyes at them all. "Name's Shuggo. He's my pet."

Sakura smirked. "Far out, dude!"

Giggles erupted.

Megumi was clutching a small stuffed elephant. Curious, Sakura leaned over to look at it. "Who's that?"

"Kiyla. She's nice." Sakura blinked. "Okay," she said slowly.

"Is there something wrong?" Megumi inquired. "Do you have a problem with her?"

_Wow, she's just like what I'm like about my hair, except she's – disguising it – _

"Nope!" Sakura said cheerfully, "No problem at all!"

With that, the girl seemed satisfied, as she left the matter at that.

Hinata came in. Sakura, remembering an earlier event, asked, "Why is Sasuke here? And Naruto, too? Neji also said something about them being his guest-"

Hinata smiled. "You didn't k-know, Sakura? Neji's h-having a sleepover t-too, though he p-prefers to call it "hanging out."

They all giggled. Hinata continued, "At 7:00 w-we will have dinner, and then t-the parties will join."

"What does that mean?" Ayame asked.

"W-well, Neji t-told me that after d-dinner we could do whatever we w-wanted, and then we'd sleep together, and no, n-not that way!" she half-shouted as Tenten and Ayame burst into laughter.

"H-he said we'd all sleep in another r-room, and r-really, Tenten, it's not funny!"

"Yes it is!" she choked. But if her words weren't amusing, then their antics were. Hinata started to chase Tenten around the room (no matter how OOC that may sound), throwing the occasional pillow at her.

The others cheered, and it was not long before Sakura shouted, "Pillow fight!" and smacked Ayame with a cushion.

The fight raged on, with Hinata chucking a pillow at Tenten, who would duck, and eventually, hit Megumi, who would seethe in pretended resentment. She'd fling several cushions at Tenten, who'd dodge, and they would hit Sakura instead. And she would take out her anger on Ayame.

Sigh.

Poor Ayame.

Feathers were floating in the air when Neji poked his head inside. He was about to say something, but shook his head and retreated. Sakura, catching sight of this, snickered. She motioned for her friends to stop and sat down.

"Hinata, who else is here?"

She shifted. "Well, this is it for the girls, and Neji invited Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Gaara, and Kiba…"

"Okay…" they all muttered simultaneously.

Ten minutes later:

Sakura trooped outside with the rest of the girls following her as if they were an army of soldiers ready for battle.

She spun around to glare at them, before whispering in a commanding tone, "Stomach in, back straight, shoulders loose, that's it! Okay, you all, the mission: to sneak in the room THEY are in without being noticed, and take something from one of them. Since there is five of us and six of them, I'll get two."

They nodded seriously and turned back to their "leader". "Hm, here's who you'll steal from…"

Twenty minutes later:

The door creaked open, and five figures snuck in. They huddled against the wall, eavesdropping on the six boys through the thin barricade. Sakura nodded to them, and they scattered.

Who do you want to here about first? Well, it doesn't matter. I'm going to tell you about them all anyway. So, starting off is…

Tenten.

She crept along the wall with a mischievous grin. Reaching her intended target, she took out the kunai Sakura had given her. (Sakura gave them all kunais and other supplies.) She had natural talent with it, the pink-haired girl had remarked.

Anyway, Tenten tiptoed to him, and in a swift movement, cut off a corner of his shirt. Smirking with her victory, she was about to sneak back to Hinata's room when a strong hand grabbed her wrist. Her eyes slowly revolved to him. It was –

Sasuke.

Her target.

She stared in disbelief at the fake as he disappeared with her to who knows where.

Well, actually, I do, but I'm not giving it away. Not yet, at least.

(Keep in mind that obviously, they aren't bad, but let's just say Sakura and her friends are playing a "game" of some sort, and it backfired!)

* * *

Hinata slowly stole towards a certain lazy genius. She reached forward with a shaky hand and seized his jacket. A hand stopped her from returning to their base.

Shikamaru was standing over her, a dull look on his face. "This is troublesome," he muttered, motioning to the scared-out-of-her-wits girl. "And I'd like my jacket back."

* * *

Ayame grinned. This would be a piece of cake! What kind of cake? Cheesecake! She drooled as she thought about the wonders of cheesecake. _Cheesy cheesy cheesecake, the cheesiest of them all, cheesy cheesy cheesecake, the cheesy cheesecake of – _here she thought a bit. _Oh! I know! __Kiba's dog! Yeah!_

When she mentioned the dog-boy, that brought her back to reality. She needed to steal something of his, yes…

Ayame lunged forward, grabbed Akamaru off Kiba's lap, and made a run for it. However, she bumped into none other than –

Kiba Inuzuka.

How nice.

She gulped nervously. "Uh, hey, there's a – uh-"

"You're not fooling me with that one," he snapped, before tossing her over his shoulder and stomping off. "And, nice squirrel."

* * *

Megumi bit her lip. She was supposed to take something of that blonde guy, what was his name? Oh yeah, Naruto or whatever.

She slowly made her way towards him, wondering what to "borrow", when suddenly, she caught sight of a –

…cup of ramen.

Oh well, it was his, wasn't it? And she only needed to get something of his. That was it. _Okay, you can do this_, she thought determinedly. Megumi was about to reach out and take it, but was stopped by someone. She looked into sea-blue eyes.

Naruto glared at her. "No one takes my ramen," he hissed as he pushed her along the hall. Then there was no trace of them. Not one.

* * *

Sakura smiled. She knew what had happened. Every one of her soldiers had been taken captive, and it was all her fault. But that wasn't the reason of her smiling. She knew that Gaara had replaced each of them with a transformed clone. _Gosh, he's gotten better_, she thought. _Makes me sort of think that I didn't improve at all. But, I did, and I've made up a lot of moves, too…_

She took out several shuriken and threw them at the clones. And with six _poof_s, they disappeared.

Sakura stood up and calmly walked towards the door. "Gaara, Neji, quit hiding," she sighed.

Obviously aware if the fact that they'd been found out and that it wasn't just a random guess, Neji came into view. Gaara jumped down from his spot near the ceiling.

"Why did you come in?" he said monotonously. She shrugged innocently. "Tis all was a game, lord," she mocked.

His hands moved like lightning. (Since I have no idea what kind of stuff they do, I'm just going to make stuff up, so don't take it out on me! Geez.)

"Sand Imprisonment (duh, he doesn't mean to HURT or KILL her, just one of their spars for fun. And he knows that she's good)!"

Trickles of sand leaked in. Looking around, Sakura shook her head. "If you want a spar, might as well take it outside."

As if listening, the window flung open (courtesy of Gaara's sand) and the two jumped out from the three-story floor. Neji just stood there, slightly shocked.

He finally collected his wits and followed, after speaking with everyone else.

Down on the field, Gaara and Sakura were having fun showing off their new moves. Sakura blocked Gaara's sand attack with fire. (Uh, what beats sand?)

"Fire Element: Flame Arrows!" (Shrug)

Bursts of fire shot from her mouth, roughly in the shape of arrows. Gaara dodged most of them, to have one zip past him. His sleeve caught fire.

Sakura quickly counterattacked herself. "Water Element: Dragon Wave Technique!" Water from the lake nearby washed over, also effectively putting out the fire. There wasn't much damage either, considering the small size of the pond.

They were vaguely aware that Neji had brought the others out. The others were given a show, but the four girls were grumpy. Naruto, Shikamaru, Sasuke, Neji, and Kiba still watched over them in case they were to try anything funny.

Gaara and Sakura began hand-to-hand combat. They each delivered powerful kicks, punches, and hits, also dodging some or using them to their advantage. It ended when Gaara, with his fist in Sakura's strong grip, was kicked in the air. She leapt up with a jumping front kick and elbowed him in the side. Finally, she ax-kicked him back to the earth.

Ouch.

Sorry to those Gaara fans out there…

Especially one of my friends.

Oh, poor me, when she gets back from her vacation she's gonna –

Well, I'm not going that far.

Sakura's eyes widened and she squeaked an apology. Rushing over and pulling out a roll of bandages, she started ATTEMPTING to heal him.

But, the injury wasn't that bad.

He could take it.

"Hey, it's seven," Neji called. Sakura glanced at her own watch. It _was_ seven, probably because the pillow fight lasted until six something, the mission was twenty minutes or so, and the spar took the rest of the time. Ah, what a nice way to start dinner.

The group made their way back to the house. They ate in the dining room, where there was only silence until Sakura spoke up. "What's this green thing?"

"Er, asparagus."

She blinked. "Excuse me?"

Hinata giggled. "You've never had asparagus before?"

"Uh, no. Say what. Can I just abandon this and eat ramen, if you have any?"

Naruto pumped his fist in the air. "OH YEAH! RAMEN IT IS!"

Everyone agreed that asparagus was not the best thing to serve at a sleepover.

So ramen it was.

No one complained, even though most had had ramen after school.

It was better than asparagus, at least.

At eight, the girls collected their stuff and flocked to the room where they were to sleep. Tenten, Hinata, Ayame, Megumi, and Sakura re-spread their sleeping bags as the boys came in. They shrugged and randomly lay down, making the wide space seem much smaller.

All eleven of them were BORED.

That was when Tenten came up with a suggestion.

"Let's play Truth or Dare."

Those five words made the boys cower. But they had no choice. It was either that or face Tenten's wrath.

So, they sat in a circle, Tenten deciding to go first.

"Kiba."

"Eh?"

He looked up.

"Truth or dare."

"Duh, I take dare! I'm not afraid of anything you shoot at me!

Little did he know about how wrong he was.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Tenten smirked. "If you don't do that, then…" she drew a finger across her throat in a rapid motion.

He gulped. "F-fine."

"Akamaru…" the dog barked to let him know that he was listening. "I… I… I…"

Tenten glared at him. "Hurry up and say it!"

"Okay! Akamaru, I hate you! I've always wanted a cat instead of a dog, since cats are much better. And forgive me!" he added hastily as the dog growled menacingly. "It was all her fault! She made me do it!"

Suddenly, Akamaru broke down in sobs. "Ruff arf! Bark, bark arf, ruff woof. Bark ruff woof arf."

…

Kiba understood him. "I'M SORRY! GOMEN! VERY VERY SORRY! SHE'LL NEVER MAKE ME DO THAT AGAIN! YES, I AGREE WITH YOU THAT SHE'S A SELFISH, SHORT-TEMPERED CAT-FAVORER!"

There was a dead silence. Sakura coughed a bit. "Um, Kiba, this is an English fic, how do you know Japanese?"

He shifted his eyes. "N-no reason." Then, he made a run for the door. "SPARE ME!"

Kiba, along with Akamaru, disappeared through the doorway, making everyone sweatdrop. A booming voice filled the room.

"KIBA. DO NOT RUN AWAY FROM YOUR FEARS. THOUGH, I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND, AS I HATE CATS TOO."

Uh…

Kiba was thrown back into the room, bloodied up and beaten. "Help – me-"

He collapsed, unconscious. The rest of the group skulked over to where he was and poked at him. Naruto turned into a fox and started gnawing on his leg.

"Hungry…"

They stared at him. Naruto shuddered under the intense gaze and shrank back into his ramen-loving self.

"Eh? Why are you looking like that? What happened?"

Suddenly, he pointed behind Ayame. "EEK! THERE'S A MONSTER BEHIND YOU!"

"Monsters don't exist," she said matter-of-factly. "There's no such thing as a monster."

"Yes there is."

"No, there isn't."

"Uh-huh."

"Nuh-uh."

"Uh-huh."

"JUST SHUT UP, BAKA!"

That shut him up all right.

"Tenten, how come you also know Japanese?" Sakura wondered.

"Uh, I took Japanese classes before I came here?" She rubbed the back of her head, smiling nervously.

They shrugged. That was good enough for them.

"And about the monster."

"What about it?"

"Are monsters hairy, brown, and scary-looking? Do they have claws and huge tails?"

"In your imagination, then yes," Ayame sighed.

"THEN THERE'S A MONSTER BEHIND YOU!"

She slowly revolved on the spot as a flying fur ball catapulted towards her. Ayame made no move to dodge.

It landed just above her head. Was it really a mini-monster? Akamaru? Or just a smelly egg sandwich with wings?

It was Shuggo. He chattered endlessly as he hopped on Ayame's shoulder. Turning back to Naruto, she fumed.

"A monster, eh?"

He swallowed and furiously shook his head.

"N-no, not at all a monster! He's a furry, brown, uh, pie! Yes, that's it! Pie!"

Two seconds later he found himself flat against the wall with Kiba.

A/n: WOW! THIS IS LIKE THE LONGEST CHAPTER I'VE EVER WROTE. TO SOME OF YOU IT MIGHT NOT BE, BUT CONSIDERING IT'S ME, BE THANKFUL! READ & REVIEW PLZ! I'M UPDATING SO MUCH FASTER NOW THAT IT'S FALL BREAK. YAY!


	15. Truth or Dare Pt 1

A/n: Hello, fellows. Doesn't anyone have any questions? Oh well. Whatever. I'll just get on with the story.

This Chapter Is Dedicated To My Friend, As Today (Uh, Saturday) Is Her Birthday 

Chapter 15

Truth or Dare Part 1

Once Naruto and Kiba recovered efficiently enough, the eleven of them settled into their previous circle. Kiba rubbed his hands together with an evil look in his eyes.

"Hm… Hinata. Truth or dare."

A glare was directed at him.

"Um, truth…"

"What is your favorite food?"

"Why not ask her something more… secret than that…" Tenten mused.

"Am I not allowed to?" he snapped back.

"R-ramen…"

Naruto perked up. "Ramen, did you say? RAMEN? Have my ears heard correctly? HINATA! YOUR FAVORITE FOOD IS RAMEN? HURRAY FOR RAMEN!" He pounced on the poor, unsuspecting girl and hugged her. Hinata turned redder than a tomato.

She fainted once more.

"Eh? Why did she faint?" Naruto frowned and scratched the back of his head. "WHY ME!"

"Now Hinata can't go. It is her turn, you know," Sakura muttered.

"I have a solution to that!" Naruto pulled out a bucket of water from nowhere and before anyone could stop him, poured it over the Hyuga.

She shot straight up, sputtering and coughing.

"OH YEAH! SEE! I'M NOT THAT STUPID! I GOT HER UP! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Hinata blinked before falling backwards again.

"NOOOOOO!" Naruto sobbed. He was dragged away by Akamaru and Shuggo, who dumped him in a trashcan.

"Ew, it smells in here!"

Everyone ignored him.

Meanwhile, Sakura and Tenten were busied with the task of waking Hinata. She slowly sat up with a dizzy look in her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Megumi asked.

"I think…"

"So, who's your next victim?" Tenten hissed.

"W-what?"

"I mean, who are you going to choose next?" she immediately replied.

"…"

"JUST CHOOSE ALREADY!"

"O-okay… Sasuke, t-truth or dare?"

He was taken aback. "Me?"

"Obviously!" Ayame scoffed. "Who else?"

"In that case… dare." The Uchiha was smirking inwardly, knowing that Hinata could never challenge someone to even stick his or her head in a bowl of ramen. Naruto would gladly do so, but as for others… well, let's just say Sasuke wasn't too eager to damage his face.

She smiled softly, and then was silently. _Probably thinking what dare is good enough for_ _me_, Sasuke thought.

Finally, she spoke. "I dare you to sneak into Hiashi's, my father, room, and steal his precious vase. It's the lavender one with blue flowers and white designs on it."

…Wow. And saying all that without stuttering, too.

"H-Hinata!" Neji reprimanded. "How could you-"

"You heard her, Sasuke. Do the dare." Tenten smirked victoriously at the bewildered Uchiha. Sakura and Ayame were stifling their laughter at the look on his face.

"Fine," he grumbled, standing up and brushing himself off. They heard his mutters and curses the entire time as he stomped towards the door. Suddenly, he stopped.

"What, scared?" Ayame teased.

He ignored her. "Hinata, where's your father's room?"

They sweatdropped.

* * *

"So how was it?" Kiba asked eagerly. Sasuke stormed back into the room, ruffled and petulant. He produced the said vase from his jacket and tossed it to Hinata. 

"Hey, watch out! That thing looks expensive, you know!" Sakura called.

"So, was he there when you went in?" Shikamaru inquired.

"Nope."

"That's lucky for you. Wonder when he'll find out?" Tenten murmured. They all were silent for a moment. Sure enough, a minute later, there was a scream of anguish.

"NOOOOOOOOOO! MY PRECIOUS VASE! WHERE IS IT?"

"There he goes," Neji and Hinata muttered concurrently.

"I LOCKED IT UP IN MY NEW, PROFICIENT, UNLOCKABLE-WITHOUT-THE-KEY-AND-COMBINATION LOCK DOOR! HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT IT WALKED OUT?"

"You actually got past the new lock?" Gaara questioned.

"You won't believe how much trouble I went through just for that stupid vase," he grumbled, attempting to smooth out his chicken-butt hair.

"Hinata! Why did you dare him to do that?" Neji demanded. She averted his gaze.

"Don't you remember the last time it happened? You know how emotional he gets!"

"I'm s-sorry-"

"This cannot be solved with just an apology! Someone has to put it back!"

They all turned their heads to Sasuke.

"What!" he cried, throwing his arms into the air. "I already stole the crap, now I have to put it back, too?"

Ayame sighed. "For now, just get your turn over with."

He sat down. "Gaara, truth or dare."

"Dare." His response was anything but hesitant.

"Alright, go put the vase back in the lock door thing Hinata's father was talking about, and make sure that everything looks natural."

"Easy." He stood up, and held his hand out for the object that had caused the disorder, and walked out of the room.

Sasuke, Hinata, Shikamaru, Sakura, Ayame, Megumi, Tenten, Kiba, Neji, and the smelly Naruto, now out of the trashcan, peeked out after him. Three minutes later he returned.

"What did you do?" they insisted upon knowing.

"I did the dare," he answered dully, sitting back down where his spot in the circle used to be.

"That fast?" Kiba frowned. "How would we know if you just hid it someplace else?"

Sakura intervened. "Don't underestimate him. Gaara's specialty is the sneak attack."

"What's the sneak attack?" they wanted to know. Gosh, what a bunch of nosy people.

"Never mind. You might see later. For now, just listen."

Two seconds later another scream filled the silence. "MY PRECIOUS VASE IS BACK! BUT THAT'S WEIRD, I LEFT THE THING CLOSED, HOW COULD IT HAVE WALKED BACK IN BY ITSELF LIKE THAT? OH WELL, AT LEAST I HAVE MY VASE AGAIN! YAHOO!"

They sweatdropped. "Well, that proves it," Neji said weakly.

"Sakura. Truth or dare."

"Me?" The pink-haired girl pointed at herself in a quizzical manner.

"Yes…"

She smirked. "Well, I choose… hah! Dare!"

"We saw that coming," Tenten commented.

"You sure did," she replied, sticking her tongue out at her friend.

Gaara turned to Sakura. "I dare you to prank call Ino."

Her eyes were as wide as quarters. "Really? And what should I say?"

He blinked, then leaned over and whispered something in her ear.

She snickered. "Okay, Hinata, can I use your phone?"

"O-of course…"

The shy Hyuga handed over the phone set, and Sakura dialed the number Gaara had told her. All eleven subconsciously bent towards the pink-haired girl.

They waited for what seemed like forever until hearing Sakura speak. But strangely, her voice was deep, and sounded extremely alike to a familiar prodigy…

"Ino? This is Sasuke." The group tensed, holding back gasps of surprise and snorts of laughter.

A high-pitched squeal was heard. "Sasuke? Is that really you? Why would you be calling me?" The real Sasuke glared at everyone, grumpy about being framed.

"Well, I was wondering… ifyoucouldgoonadatewithme." Sasuke's eyes widened when he realized what Sakura was aiming for.

"Excuse me?"

"C-can you go on a date with me?"

There was a screech at the other end. Sakura had to bring the phone away from her ears.

"OF COURSE I WILL! YES, I'LL GO! I KNEW THAT YOU WOULD ALWAYS CHOOSE ME! I AM SO MUCH BETTER THAN ALL YOUR OTHER FANGIRLS, ESPECIALLY THAT SNOTTY PINK-HEADED ONE!"

The silence in the room was enough to suffocate them.

"Sasuke? Are you still there?"

Sakura's voice was strained. "I'm still here. I'll pick you up tomorrow night at six, your house."

"YOU KNOW WHERE I LIVE? THAT IS SO HOT!"

…

Kiba was muffling Ayame, who looked as if she was going to burst with mirth.

"O-okay, so I'll see you tomorrow-"

"Aw, there's no need to be shy! I'd love to go! No worries! I'll see you tomorrow too! MWAH!"

She hung up. Sakura slowly turned to Gaara. "How did you get her phone number?" Don't tell me that you've been stalking her-"

He made such a face that everyone had to laugh.

Sakura shifted and hugged her knees to her chest. "Shikamaru, truth or dare?"

The genius was laying on his back, staring at Hinata's room's ceiling as if in an attempt to watch clouds through the roof. "This is troublesome. But, heck with it, I'll choose dare for once."

"Really?" Sakura grinned. This was going to be so much fun…

* * *

a/n: how'd you like it? I'm going to make a part 2, maybe even part 3. Anyways, thank you Black Wolf Jaganshi Lover for the EVIL and awesome ideas! i'll definitely use them! and for now, read and review! thx!  



	16. Truth or Dare Pt 2

A/n: ONCE AGAIN, THANK YOU Black Wolf Jaganshi Lover, FOR THE GREAT IDEAS. MOST WILL BE USED.

I can't believe how fast I'm updating… but that will all disappear next week when Fall Break ends. –sniff- So, be grateful that you can be reading this chapter at all. Read and review plz! Anyway, let's begin.

Chapter 16

Truth or Dare Part 2

Bob, the shop assistant from the not-going-so-well store, **Day-Old Food** (he had no idea why it was fairing so poorly), was on his break shift. Suddenly, someone burst into the shop, wearing a crude chicken suit. (Thx again, Black Wolf Jaganshi Lover!)

"THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! AHCK! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

It ran around the deli section in circles and sprinted out of the store.

Bob couldn't take it. "MY EYES! THEY BURN!" He ran towards his boss's office, pounded on the door, rammed in, and shouted, "I QUIT!"

Then, he bolted out of the shop for his home, a doghouse, to lie down a bit and recover from the disastrous event.

* * *

The party of ten clustered on the roof of the Hyuga mansion. They clutched their sides in a poor attempt to stop laughing, but it was hopeless. They could only watch through tears as Shikamaru, grumbling about never taking a dare from Sakura again, clambered up next to them, still stuck in his chicken suit. 

"T-that was worth it," Naruto choked as he wiped away a tear, referring to about ten minutes ago.

**Flashback:**

_Shikamaru stared in horror when Sakura finished explaining the dare._

"_N-no! How could you? I thought you were my friend!" he sobbed. _

"_Well, then you thought wrong," she cackled, a maniacal look on her face. "So, put the suit on already!"_

"_Never!" He put on a brave fight, but in the end, Naruto and Kiba managed to hold him down long enough for Sakura to fit him in the "fashionable" outfit. "Aw, you look cute in it!" _

_Sasuke winced with envy at this comment._

_Shikamaru struggled, landing a kick on Naruto's head. "Hey, watch it, or I'll sic Sakura on you!"_

"…_Hate you."_

"_That's right, be a good boy, or I'LL BEAT YOU UP!"_

_He swallowed and immediately started running and jumping off the roof, afraid of Sakura coming after him with her deadly fist. Good choice, Shikamaru, good choice…_

**End of Flashback**

"It still hurts, you know," Naruto stated, rubbing his head with a sigh.

"Naruto!"

"Eh?" The blonde jumped slightly to see Shikamaru, finally relieved of the chicken suit. "What do you want?"

"Truth or dare?"

"Aha! Dare, obviously!" Man, people are all dare these days.

"Well…" He looked like an evil magician about to pull a rabid rabbit out of a chicken's head. "I dare you to…" The rest was whispered in his ear.

"WHAT? YOU ACTUALLY EXPECTED ME TO DO _THAT_? HOW COULD YOU! YOU KNOW WHAT I'M LIKE-"

He swallowed.

"About ramen."

"Do it," a smirking Shikamaru said, his arms crossed arrogantly (who ever knew that he could be arrogant?).

"-sniff- Alright –sniff-" He pulled a cup of ramen out of his pocket (big surprise) and hopped back inside the room. The rest followed curiously.

With one last sniff and a good-bye to the – ramen – Naruto aimed – shot – and the ramen soared through the air in slow-motion and sailed towards the trashcan. (Thx Black Wolf Jaganshi Lover, though I changed this one a bit!) Naruto, who had previously stuffed his face in a pillow to stop himself from watching, yelled, "JUST GO IN ALREADY!"

The ramen, as if listening, dropped in the wastebasket, now with normal speed. Naruto sighed with relief, then, glancing right and left, leaped onto the bin, snarling.

"GIVE. ME. BACK. MY. RAMEN. NOW. YOU. STUPID. TRASHCAN."

The trashcan bent over, then spat it out. He snatched the cup, inspected it, and smiled, hugging it. "I love you!"

Sakura, Tenten, Ayame, Shikamaru, Sasuke, Hinata, Neji, Megumi, Gaara, and Kiba all stepped over him. At least, most of them did, with Neji tripping and landing on his face, to bounce back up to see if he had anymore dignity, and Kiba purposely stomping on Naruto's foot, to a loud, "OW!"

They didn't bother to sit in their circle. To them, just sprawled on their sleeping bags was good enough.

Naruto finally crawled over to join them. He pointed a finger at Ayame. "Truth – or dare."

"Truth, for once. Everyone's been doing dares, so now it's not fun anymore," was her reply.

"Alright…" There was a little disappointment in his voice. "Then, what is your deepest, darkest, most kept-secret secret?"

The lights went out to absolute and utter darkness. A flashlight snapped on and was directed right under Naruto's face. There was a weird grin on his face, and he showed sharp teeth.

"EEK!" Tenten screeched, backing up and grabbing at anything she could find, A.K.A. a certain blushing Hyuga.

"R-relax, Tenten," Neji soothed, awkwardly patting her arm. There was a silence, and everyone turned back to Naruto.

Ayame glared at him. "You can't ask something like that, it has to be sort of an explanation question."

"Fine, fine. Where, when, and how did you get your pet monster?"

"Shuggo? He's not a monster," she added, giving a nasty look to Naruto, who was silently laughing his insides out. "And as for the three questions in one…"

"Yeah, that's not fair, Naruto, though I would like to hear about the details," Sakura pondered.

"Really? Okay, I got him at a park near our former house about two years ago, and he's an Eastern Gray Squirrel. I found him one day when I was climbing one of the trees, and he was frozen right on one of the branches. He scampered away when I moved again, though."

"That's interesting, you don't really climb a tree and then find a squirrel there, do you," Sasuke muttered.

"Huh? Interested on the subject? Amazing," Naruto said sarcastically. He earned himself a hard whack on his already injured head. "Hey, ow! Watch it!"

"Well," Ayame continued, "Everyday, Megumi and I went to the park. And everyday, I found the little rascal there. Once when we were having a picnic, he even came up and stole a cookie crumb!"

"I remember that time," Megumi said smiling slightly.

"After walking home one day, I realized that that squirrel had followed us home! Unbelievable as it was, we let him in the house. Oh, was that the sorriest mistake I ever made!"

"A squirrel in the house? Doesn't sound that much of a problem to me," Kiba snorted.

"Toyou. You won't believe how much trouble he took us through! Breaking dishes, running through the entire place and causing pandemonium, scaring our dog out of his wits, leaving – er, presents on the carpet, you name it!"

"What's pandemonium? Is it some kind of a disease or something?" Naruto wondered.

"Stupid! It means chaos!" Sakura threw a pillow at him.

"Oh…"

"Then w-what happened?" Hinata asked.

"Well, our mom got really mad and grounded us for a LONG time, then made us clean the mess up and get everything back together again," Megumi concluded.

"But, it was worth it, seeing that she let us keep Shuggo after catching sight of our pitiful faces," Ayame grinned.

"Good times," the two sighed.

Everyone else sweatdropped. Ayame broke out of her trance and said, "Truth or dare, Neji, and I suggest you take truth, cause otherwise you're going to regret it."

"Dare," he said, smirking defiantly.

"Oh, you're going to GET IT!"

* * *

"Oh, I got it," Neji muttered, glancing at himself. He was dripping wet since Ayame had showered him with the hose and covered him with honey and feathers. She then dared him to run up and down the street, shouting things and waving his arms in the air. He had been shocked, too shocked to take upon the dare, which would therefore shatter his dignity. But, he had to take it like a man. 

A girly man, too.

Taking a deep breath, he started running. "YAHOO! EVERYONE, LOOK AT ME! I'M THE DANCING, FLYING DUCK! OH YEAH! I TOTALLY, LIKE, ROCK! NOW I'M GOING TO GET MY NAILS DONE! HOW AWESOME!" To himself he muttered, "Ayame, you're going to pay dearly for this…"

* * *

The woman who lived on the same block as the Hyugas did peeked out the window. "Oh John," she called, referring to her husband, "that Hyuga guy has finally lost it." 

John also glimpsed out. "You're right, dear, we might have to move out. Kids nowadays…"

* * *

Neji stormed back into his house. He glared at the ten snorting, chuckling, and giggling guests (not including Hinata on the guest part) and once again looked at himself. "Now I need another bath, and I have to wash my hair again, too!" 

A new wave of laughter exploded. Neji stiffened, then slowly revolved to face them. They froze also, cowering under his white, intimidating eyes.

"Did. You. Just. Laugh. At. Me."

"N-no, of course not, Neji!" they stuttered, sounding a lot like Hinata.

He glared at them again before plodding away, probably to tend to his precious hair.

All ten glanced at each other, and then turned their heads back towards the door.

"Hey, Neji," Sakura called, cupping her hand to her mouth, "Come on, can you please finish your turn before you go?"

There was silence, and finally, a disgruntled Hyuga appeared at the doorway. "Fine," he muttered, clomping once again into the room. "Megumi, truth or dare."

"Truth," the girl said, blinking guiltlessly.

"What is your last name?" Neji hissed.

"Uh-"

"What, you do not even know? Shame!" the Hyuga spat in the same, creepy tone.

"It's Mokumadachi!" she finally yelled. He blinked. "Ayame Mokumadachi? Megumi Mokumadachi? What strange but fitting names…"

"Okay…"

He stood up, careful not to get his hair dirtier. "Well, I suppose I'll be seeing you guys later." Neji walked out prissily.

Oho-kay…

"Megumi, it's your turn now," Gaara commented. She blushed, and then quickly plunged her face into her sleeping bag. Sakura leaned over and whispered to Tenten, "Ooh, I think someone's got a crush!"

Tenten giggled and whispered back, "You got it! Hm, shall we act out Plan A Part One, The Matchmakers?"

Sakura thought a bit. "Nah, let's wait a bit…"

Megumi chanced to look back up. She shrugged and sat straight. "Tenten, you're the only one who hasn't gone yet, so truth or dare?"

She smirked. "You won't ever see me laying around and doing nothing! I choose dare!"

"Alright," Megumi said slowly, "this will be a complex dare, so, let's see, I dare you to-"

Sakura nudged Ayame, who poked Hinata, who bumped into Tenten, who scratched Kiba, who sneezed on Naruto, who fell on Sasuke, who backed up into Shikamaru, who collapse girlishly on Gaara, who glared at everyone. But nevertheless, they all listened.

"…feed Naruto ramen, dump it over yourself after the third bite, then run off and tell Neji that Naruto did it, wherever he is."

They gasped, and Ayame smirked, proud that her sister had come up with such a brilliant idea. Shuggo shimmied his way up on her shoulder and chattered in agreement.

"How could you? I've already done something cruel to my precious ramen, now she has to do something too, right in front of me?" Naruto sobbed.

"Face it, bub, it's a dare." Tenten looked disgusted, but she still held her head high (another four h's!)

The window framed the sobbing ramen-lover, pink-haired girl, chicken-haired guy, lazy genius, shy Hyuga, Mokumadachis, red-head, dog-boy, and the "dared." Outside, a figure in black crept stealthily through the trees, bushes, and grass, nearing the Hyuga mansion the whole time.

"Oh, what have we here...?"


	17. Truth or dare Pt 3

A/n: um, I'm sorry for not updating…? Well, you can blame that on school! Yeah! … I'll see you in the story.

Thx, puppylovercutie, for the great idea! Though I altered things a tiny bit… Wow, I never knew that u were so evil…

Chapter 17

Truth or Dare Part 3

Tenten had a really grossed-out look on her face. No one blamed her, really. It's not everyday that you find a girl who has to feed Naruto ramen who isn't wincing. Except, maybe Hinata, of course.

Tenten scooped up a bite of the previously cooked ramen. She held it out with a pair of chopsticks, swallowing hard. "H-here," she said weakly, cautiously holding it out. Then, without a warning, she suddenly shoved the mouthful into Naruto's mouth, nearly choking him, as everyone could see from his blue face and alarmed expression. Tenten, on the other hand, paid no heed and continued to heave ramen toward him; when three bites were accomplished, she paused, shut her eyes tightly and poured the rest over her head. It wasn't a pretty sight…

"Ew!" several of them cried while rapidly scooting away from her. Megumi clutched her elephant, eyes wide.

Suddenly, there was a loud CRASH. Everyone turned to see one of the many windows (on the other side of the room) broken, glass shards littering the floor. A dark figure, stooped over, slowly straightened before issuing menacing, heavy steps towards them. They saw his eyes through the gloom, and they were – was that a flash of red?

It came to a stop in front of them, and they gasped. The form revealed to be –

Dun dun dun!

…

"I am Itachi Uchiha! Bow down before me!" he said rather loudly.

They all sweatdropped.

Sasuke, with a strange look on his face, stepped forward. "Forgive my older brother, he's a bit – crazy."

"What? Crazy? _Me_? At least I don't have long hair that made people think I was a girl!"

"…You do have long hair."

"Well, er…"

"Go on," Ayame, who was highly entertained, said, waving her hand.

"Um…" He reached into his left pocket and fished out something. He fumbled with it and then held it out for everyone to see. "Here's a picture of Sasuke wearing a yellow flowered tutu!"

"Why isn't it pink?" asked Sakura, her voice sounding twice as big due to the fact that everyone was silent.

"Well, they were out of pink, so why not yellow?" he replied.

The others looked at each other and shrugged, deciding that it was a reasonable explanation.

"Where? Where?" They started crowding around to get a look. Sasuke, his appearance visibly turning red, shouted, "How the heck did you get that?"

Itachi smirked smugly (twista!). "Wouldn't you like to know… little brother."

"Argh!"

There was a slight silence, and unexpectedly, Neji shuffled in. "What's with all the ruckus?"

At this sight, the group's jaws literally dropped to the ground. They stood their, mouths hanging wide open and eyes as big as Frisbees.

"…What?"

And indeed, they had something to gawk at, for Neji was wearing…

…a pink robe, bordered by crimson lacy frills, with a collar at the neck and cottony sleeves. On his feet was a pair of fluffy, electric pink bunny slippers, with the ears and tail and all. Plus, his hair was wrapped in a small, cherry-colored towel, Neji looking like he had a turban on his head.

Yeah…

He stiffened, before turning to Tenten. She still had the ramen over her. "What happened," he practically stated in his monotone. Shish, how boring.

"Uh…" Tenten quickly remembered the dare. "Oh yeah! I m-mean, Naruto did it! It was all his fault!" She pointed accusingly at the blonde, who was currently still troubled with his choking problem.

"Really?" As he spoke, he glared at Naruto.

Tenten felt the urge to say more. "And, Sasuke told him too!"

Neji raised an eyebrow. Sasuke? This was new…

Sasuke looked accusingly at her. "W-what? I did not!"

Then turning to Neji himself, he chuckled a little, forgetting about Tenten. "Hey, does anyone have a camera…?"

Kiba quickly handed him one. Without bothering to ask him why he even had it, Sasuke held it up to his eyes and snapped a photo. Neji and Tenten, both frozen, thawed. Neji glared at him, probably hoping to intimidate the Uchiha into deleting the picture. Tenten, however, seemed to believe that actions spoke louder than looks.

She lunged at him, arms outstretched, in hopes of snatching the camera away. Sasuke, anticipating this attempt, stepped forward, with Tenten crashing behind him.

"Ha," he said emotionlessly, tossing the camera into the air and catching it.

"Show-offer," Tenten grumbled, picking herself up from the ground.

"Likewise."

"Humph."

"Yeah, and it's too bad for you."

She suddenly lurched forward again, grabbing at him

"NO ONE DOES THAT TO _MY_ NEJI AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!"

All activity stopped. "…Did you just actually say that?"

"Uh…" Tenten glanced around nervously. "No, I did not. SO, FORGET EVERYTHING YOU JUST HEARD, PEOPLE!"

"…What was it you said before?"

"NARUTO! I SAID, YOU. HEARD. NOTHING."

"But that's not what you sa-"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!"

"O-okay…"

She fixed the buns in her hair (well… they basically _were_ her hair) and rolled up her sleeves, growling. "GIVE ME BACK THAT CAMERA!"

"No."

"DAMN!"

…Anger issues…

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Really? So you can delete the idiotic picture of your _precious _Neji?"

"THAT'S RIGHT- I mean, no! Just give me the camera!"

"Nope."

"YES!"

"Never."

"UGH! WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO GET IT?"

Sasuke looked with surprise at her. "…You mean it?"

"Of course I do!" she said impatiently, stomping her foot. Hinata, with Sakura and Ayame trailing after her, quickly shook her head.

"T-tenten, you k-k-know that that's n-not a g-good idea."

"IT OBVIOUSLY ISN'T!" she shouted, efficiently scaring her to back up behind Ayame.

"Don't make such a big deal about it," Sasuke scoffed, fanning his hand around. On a quick glance at him, Sakura found that his nails were painted pink with black polka dots.

"Uh, Sasuke, how'd you… where did… but why… oh, never mind."

"Well, like, totally, it's really, like, AWESOME!" Kiba yelled lamely. "OMG!"

"Shut up." Ten flat voices muttered.

Tenten beckoned to Sakura, whispering something in her ear. Sasuke immediately put his guard up, knowing that whatever the _dangerous_ (yes, dangerous) pink-haired girl stuck her nose into, it would only come to one thing: trouble.

Meanwhile…

Sakura listened intently as Tenten spoke. "Alright, I know that you can very well get that camera away from him in a thousand different ways, easy ones, too, but make this one good. I don't want any mess-ups."

"Why, of course not! And you know that I _never_ mess up." Sakura smirked sarcastically.

"Then the Uchiha won't know what hit him…"

They straightened, smiling brightly. The two made their way to Sasuke, an evil grins hidden on their faces.

"Hello, sir. Fine day, isn't it?" Tenten ventured.

"Hn," he grumbled, crossing his arms, while secretly making sure that he had a good grip on the camera. Sakura caught it, though.

"Well, that's all you ever say. Can't you talk?" Here she gasped. "Unless, you're one of those unaffected cavemen people!"

"Obviously!" he snorted, but then wondered why Tenten and Sakura were choking. He peered closer; they were laughing.

He suddenly realized his mistake. "U-uh, I didn't mean that-"

"Sure you didn't!" Sakura managed to stand up as she grinned lopsidedly at him. "Oh well, at least you're not just saying 'hn' anymore."

"Hn."

"Argh!"

Tenten poked his hair. It was stiff. "Hey, do you use some kind of gel?" she asked, pulling on one of the strands.

It came off. Tenten peeked, horrified, at the wig in her hands.

Yes, wig.

Sasuke Uchiha wore a wig.

Naruto, popping up next to her, stared. "I never knew that you wore a wig… Hey! You're head is shiny! Do you wax it or something?"

(…My orchestra teacher is practically… bald, and someone in my class mentioned it… lol)

"Idiot!" He snatched it out of Tenten's hands and placed it back on his head. "So that's why it always sticks up like that," Kiba muttered. They all glared at him, so he gulped and backed away.

Uh… a lot of you would probably think that Sasuke having a wig is REALLY weird, so let's X that out…

Back to a minute ago:

Tenten poked his hair. It was stiff. "Hey, do you use some kind of gel?" she asked.

He pointed his nose into the air. "No, it's natural, just like Sakura's pink hair."

Sakura, who was busy doing her job, glanced up. He had been listening that morning when she introduced herself? No matter…

She gave Tenten "the signal", and seeing it, Tenten quickly pushed Sasuke so he fell backward.

Dun dun… Suspense… Horror…

Okay.

Sakura immediately made the swap with, once again, a transformed clone. Yes, she can turn into an object, and not just a person.

Picture this in slow-motion…

Sasuke was still falling backwards, a look of surprise on his face.

Sakura withdrew, holding the camera with a triumphant grin.

Tenten reached forward and grabbed the camera, yelling (which, as of right now, was really… deep sounding…) excitedly.

If those three things happen at the same time, then it equals…

Uh-oh.

OO

-

Sakura twisted and she, too, tripped slightly, due to Tenten, who was too busy with the camera to be aware to anything else. Therefore, the pink-haired girl plunged down… and down… and down…

Until Sasuke and Sakura fell into a certain, _inappropriate_ position.

Kissing.


	18. Charades

Chapter 18

Charades

"Ahck!"

Sasuke and Sakura forcibly wrenched away from the other – Sasuke, after fully digesting what had happened, froze and an unmistakable blush rose on his face. Sakura, on the other hand, did not do the same, but instead started spitting.

"Ew! Gross!" Out of the few things Sakura would have counted sickening, this was one of them.

Tenten covered her mouth with her hands. "Oops…" she giggled.

Sakura wiped a sleeve across her own mouth and glared murderously at her. Tenten immediately stopped.

"Why did you do that," the pink-haired girl hissed menacingly, drawing a kunai from out of nowhere. She twirled it by the metal loop on the end. By flashlight it glinted dangerously.

Tenten gulped and scrambled backwards, along with Ayame, Kiba, Naruto, and the still-dressed-in-pink Neji. Gaara just sat there staring at a teddy bear on the ground. How did it get there?

Shikamaru whimpered and curled into a ball in the corner. "Just leave me to die," they heard him say, muffled.

While Ayame, blushing heatedly, tended to him, Megumi scooted up to Gaara.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

She scooted back.

Hinata, meanwhile, was attempting to calm her friend. "Sakura, it was a mistake, wasn't it, Tenten," the Hyuga said loudly, casting a meaningful glance behind her shoulder. She saw Tenten nod furiously.

"Hey, Hinata! You didn't stutter!" Naruto exclaimed, looking up from the precious ramen that he'd been slurping. "That's amazing!" He walked up and patted her on the back. Hinata turned red and fell over backwards.

"Eh? Hinata?"

Sakura turned her deadly glare onto Tenten, who was cowering behind Neji.

"Don't hurt me…"

"Oh no, I won't hurt you…" Sakura muttered, rolling up her sleeves. A hopeful look crossed Tenten's face.

"No… I'll more like strangle you and make you suffer a slow and painful death…"

Tenten, horror-struck, crawled back to the cover of the Hyuga, snatched a couple of blankets, and disappeared under a small pile of quivering fabric.

"Hm…"

Sakura tapped a finger on her chin. "I have an idea," she said slowly. "Since everyone is bored – and I take it that you are?" Sakura said, addressing them all as her eyes swept across the room (not literally). "Well then… I know most of you don't like Truth or Dare… we've done that already, so don't worry," she assured the boys, several of who had wide eyes.

"Instead, we'll play…"

"Uh-huh?" Ayame said, smiling innocently as she gave Shuggo an acorn.

"Charades!"

"WHAT?"

"Well, you have to admit, it's better than Truth or Dare – sometimes," Kiba remarked, Akamaru barking in agreement.

"Whatever…" Itachi seemed bored. Sakura, sensing this, said in a rather loud voice, "And, there's going to be a prize, or prizes to the person whose imitation isn't guessed correctly by any of the others. However, it has to be reasonable."

The rest cheerfully scattered across the room. Ayame frowned slightly.

"So how's the prize thing going to work?"

"Well," Sakura replied thoughtfully, "I suppose only one person giving the winner something isn't fair, so all of us will have to give one thing. If that's okay with every one of you."

They sighed, exchanged looks, and eventually, agreed, with I-don't-care looks on their faces. With a shrug, Sakura dubbed Kiba the first to go, saying, "Everyone has to have a turn."

Kiba stood up. He marched confidently around to face them. "I will be performing the act of mimicking a-"

Something tackled him from behind, and with a startled, "Oomph!" Kiba fell face first to the ground. Nose and hard carpet floor met with a smack.

"Ow!"

He tugged free and jumped up to glare at the person who did it. And saw pink.

"What did you do that for?" he asked, surprised at seeing Sakura.

"For one thing," she said, dusting herself off, "you weren't supposed to say what you're going to copy, so shut up about it! And second, there was something on your back."

At this, everyone peeked at him. Kiba's face was an expression of confusion, hard thinking, and dumbness.

"What is it?"

Ayame leaned forward to poke at the blue lump when, in an explosion of feathers and a squawk, something shot into the air.

"It's a bird!" Megumi cried, to the hissing and growling of Midnight.

Midnight?

Sakura, suddenly oblivious to almost the entire world, flung herself at the black cat in the doorway. "Midnight! Where were you? It's been weeks and weeks, but now you've finally found your way back home! And – oh crap, the theory's right, that means that I owe Tenten ten bucks-"

Tenten had a triumphant smirk on her face and held her hand out expectantly.

"But, she won't be getting it."

Said girl let out a defeated sigh.

"And anyway, you'd better stay still now, okay?" With several more moments of cooing, lectures, and sweatdropping (on the rest of the group's part), Sakura picked up the cat and dropped her on a pillow.

Hinata spoke up. "Sakura, s-she was never lost, y-your cat was j-just at the k-kitchens, and she's o-only been gone for a f-few hours!"

"Plus, this isn't your home," Ayame added, raising an eyebrow at the twittering bird and the cat.

"Bwah. Kiba, it's your turn…"

"Fine, whatever," he grumbled, picking himself off of the floor and once again (but this time stomping) marching to his previous spot. He cleared his throat, dropped to the ground (so what was getting up for?) and started rolling over from left to right and back again…

* * *

A/n: So… sorry for not updating so long! And, sorry for this being such a short chapter! Heh! I'm not really supposed to be on the comp, so shh! And, can you guess what Kiba is or is doing? Ice cream to whoever guess right. :D 


	19. End of the FREAKING FIRST DAY

A/n: SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING SOONER! IF YOU CARE AT ALL… BUT ANYWAY, THE FIRST DAY ENDS HERE! WOW! CONGRATULATE ME! And, please review. For the sake of Neji's bunny slippers.

Chapter 19

Goodnight…

"Uh…"

"I don't know, what are you?" Tenten asked curiously, tapping a finger on her chin.

Kiba paused slightly in his rolling to snort at her. "Isn't it obvious? What else could I be doing?"

"…Being a log?" Sakura suggested. (Most of you who guessed got the next one, and one person even put this…)

"Oh! I know!" Shikamaru slammed a fist on his palm, a un-Shikamaru like expression on his face. "You – in a preposterous manner of speaking – are a slobbering dog. Basically put, Akamaru."

Kiba exploded with an undignified snort. "Are you _joking?_ Though, now that you mention it, that just _might _be not bad of an idea…"

"We're playing charades, remember?" Ayame muttered, to everyone's ignorance.

"Okay, I'll tell you. I'm being a pig. Now isn't that uncommon," Kiba said, glaring at Shikamaru and Sakura.

"When people grow wings and fly," the two accused muttered in unison.

"So… who's going next?" Tenten asked.

"Let's play rock, paper, scissors to decide!" Itachi squealed.

"Man, how things lead to the next. And – wait. Was that who just screamed in my ear… Itachi?" Sasuke said suspiciously.

"Uh…no!" Itachi ran out of the room.

"I'm bored," Neji yawned.

"Okay… then to just save the comment, I'll go!" Tenten said, a broad grin spreading across her face. She leapt across several cushions and sleeping bags and cleared her throat. "Hello…"

"Just go already!"

"Fine, fine! Why are people so rude these days?" Tenten coughed again and waved her arms in the air. What she was trying to do, none of them could even guess.

"Er…"

They sweatdropped as Tenten, with a final wave, crumbled to the ground.

"What in the world is she doing," Gaara muttered.

Outside, a scream could be heard. Itachi crashed through the window back inside, showering sharp shards (try saying that fast ten times) of pointed glass over the small crowd. They covered themselves the best they could, using their arms to shield them (a lot of plural stuff there if you ask me).

Tenten wasn't moving. Sakura, having dodged the shards, sidled up to her and poked her in the side. Immediately she sounded an unmistakable snort…

Of sleep.

Tenten was asleep.

"Cheater!" Sakura shouted, standing up. The rest looked over at her.

"What it is," Neji, in his pink glory, muttered. He didn't have the need to protect himself from the glass, seeing that the others had taken the blow. Itachi, for the matter, was at that instant bolting out the door, screaming his head off about rabbits and evil castles.

"Tenten isn't really with us right now," Sakura replied, glancing at the brown-haired, grumbling girl that held onto her leg. She was sucking her thumb.

Shuggo left Ayame's shoulder and scampered over to her. Rubbing its paws together in a sinister-like way, it jumped onto her shoulder and began to stomp. After a few seconds, the squirrel stopped to view his results. When it saw that nothing changed, it gave a few disapproving chatters and returned to its perch.

"So…"

Kiba yawned and also dropped to the floor. "I'mmmmmmmmmaa… tiiiirrrrrreeedd."

His slurred words didn't need interpretation.

"Me… too."

One by one, the guests of the extremely stretched sleepover, and the hosts (one who was scooting to a snoring, obnoxious blond, and the other who, at the moment, was conversing with his bunny slippers), fell to the floor and began snoring away.

Looks like the night's done for…


	20. Gym AGAIN?

A/N: I didn't update for SO long… but hey, it's the day after the day after Christmas. No hard feelings, right? Okay, to get down to business.

Chapter 20

The Mysterious Murderer

-Skipping to gym class-

"Hello, my fellow youthful students!" Gai cried. Literally, he was crying. "It's just been so _long _since we've seen each other!"

Sakura – and basically everyone else – made a disgusted face. Besides the Gai-talk, they had their last class just yesterday.

Gai cleared his throat. "Ahem. Well, today in your youthful gym, we will be practicing…"

Nobody really cared much about what he was going to say, but they were going to have to do it, so might as well listen.

"We are going to be practicing…" Gai repeated, "…the art of the ninja arts!"

Everyone sweatdropped, and half the class (including Naruto) fell. "What?" "Where?" "Why?" "How come?" they spluttered.

Gai cleared his throat again, louder. "Tsunade, your beloved, youthful ("Yeah right," someone in the crowd muttered) principal, has informed me that someone has youthfully requested a class or two on ninja arts. The asker is anonymous."

"I wonder if it was Sakura?" Tenten muttered. They looked towards the pink-haired girl.

"Nuh-uh, wasn't me!" She started backing away.

The talk began to swell. "Cool, we're gonna learn to throw knives!"

"In gym class? Someone will get hurt!"

"Oh well. Don't really matter."

"I wanna learn how to climb up walls!"

"_I'd_ rather learn to climb a tree."

"No one cares about what you think!"

"Take that back, you little snotball-"

"I wonder how you make a clone?"

"Teach me! Teach me!"

"BE YOUTHFULLY SILENT OR ELSE OUR YOUTHFUL GYM TEACHER, YOUTHFUL GAI, SHALL YOUTHFULLY CLOBBER YOUR UNWORTHY YET YOUTHFUL HEADS INTO YOUTHFUL PILES OF YOUTHFUL, YOUTHFUL YOUTH!" Rock Lee declared before collapsing. Nobody paid any attention, but it did get them silent.

"Let's get started. We'll be practicing with kunais and shurikens. Since I am youthfully no good at this, your teacher shall be…" With a dramatic flutter of his eyelids (someone fainted dead away at that), he pointed to Sakura.

"Me?" she said, surprised.

"Yes you. Now come on up and get your sharp ninja stuff!"

-5 minutes of disorder and mayhem later-

"Now huff pant, you may begin."

Yells were heard as people crowded up to Sakura, randomly waving sharp objects and therefore cutting others (to quite audible "Ow!" s) and suffocating other others.

Sakura patiently began to restore order. "You, over here. Stay behind Shikamaru. Kiba, I grant you permission to slice open his gizzard if he starts acting up again."

Kiba straightened and saluted smartly. "Yes ma'am!"

Sakura nodded. "Splendid." She continued to fix the crowd.

"You over there, quit being so _arrogant_." When said person seemed to pay no attention to her, Sakura's eyes glowed red. "_Did you hear what I said?"_ she said sweetly.

The future-to-be-known victim scoffed. "'Course I did. Don't mistake me to be deaf. I'm not stupid, you know."

"Looks like he wasn't here yesterday," Naruto muttered to Sasuke, who agreed (on the inside) wholeheartedly.

Sakura was radiating a dangerous aura. "_Are you sure?"_ In a millisecond's time she was at his throat with a kunai. Dramatic gasps rose from the watching audience.

"Don't underestimate me," she hissed before withdrawing and casually replacing the kunai back into her weapon pouch. She ferociously shoved him into Naruto.

"You get ramen if you manage to keep him down," Sakura told him cheerfully. Man, moods swap like lightning. "But that shouldn't be too hard." The two glanced down simultaneously at the injured party, who was shaking like a leaf on a windy day.

"Thank you, Sakura!" Naruto fell to his knees and started bowing. "I am not worthy, I am not worthy-"

Sakura nudged him back up. "If you weren't worthy then I wouldn't have entrusted the job to you. Now listen up, people!"

Immediately several heads turned to her.

"How respective," she muttered. "Oh well. Gaara, can you be my assistant? Please?"

Rolling his eyes at the cheesy implication, but nevertheless getting up, Gaara strolled across to her, hands in pockets.

"Alright. Here's how you start." Sakura took a kunai out of her pouch once again and lifted it for the crowd to see. "Be careful when you handle kunais, or anything sharp for that matter, or else its not going to be pretty."

Several people grimaced.

"Anyway. Spread out evenly."

With past experiences of Sakura's wrath in mind, the order was quickly carried out.

"Good. Now if you can, start doing this _slowly._" She raised the kunai and began swinging it in circles by the ring at the end.

After many moments of endless pain, arguing, and smirking, the main idea was digested.

"Now do this." Sakura began swinging the kunai in a figure eight pattern so that it made a shrill whistling sound.

"When are we going to do something _cool_?" a person in the back muttered.

Sakura whirled around sharply. "You must master the basics first! Otherwise, it'll be useless. You can't just start trying to learn _cool_ stuff just yet!"

The crowd started jeering.

This, two instead of one kunais whistled past the neck of the offender in the back. They buried themselves into the wall behind him.

Sakura was a little surprised at the kunai Gaara threw. She'd just expected hers to be the only one. Nevertheless, the effect was amusing.

"Spare me! Spare me!" the guy was shouting. He scrabbled at the floor in a pitiful attempt to hide himself.

Sakura sighed. She was getting tired of threatening wrongdoers with sharp knives. "Just listen and you'll get it right. Otherwise, get a taste of my new move!"

Nobody dared tried to question her. Not anymore, at least. Not for now. They lined up obediently and carried out orders and applied tips on the kunai throwing to their work, under Sakura's and Gaara's so very helpful guidance.

In half an hour, they were actually practicing to throw the kunais. The most accomplished of the inexperienced crowd was Tenten.

Sakura was startled at the velocity of her progress. For example, on the first try of throwing kunais at a target with a twelve-inch diameter, she hit it dead center when the others simply hit themselves in the eye or otherwise sent the kunai spiraling elsewhere, like at Gai's head. She complimented and congratulated her work.

"Now… are you guys ready?" she said later when everyone (amazingly) managed to hit the target (not necessarily the center, just the target) from a distance of five meters. "Well then, maybe after a few months – or years, for some of you," she added to a handful of glares and huffs, "then you just might be able to do this."

In the blink of an eye she was in the air and chucking kunais, ordinary knives and shuriken at Gaara, who, slightly taken by surprise (but hey, he can NEVER get hurt – maybe), was still easily able to block them with a single kunai. Sakura performed a double back flip and landed neatly back on the ground.

"Hey, enough showing off now," Gai shouted, barely dodging a well-aimed shuriken and dancing around in agitation, "but it's time to get back to class. Regular class. Not ninja class. Lunch, actually."

He was silenced by hordes of whooping students trampling over him.

"Hey, Sakura, you still owe me that ramen," Naruto said seriously.

She scoffed. "Whatever… oh! I can't! Sorry, I have a class with…"

"No buts! You said!"

Sakura sighed. "Alright, tomorrow then. I don't have time after school today."

"Okay, okay…"

"Later!"

"The Ramengod dislikes people who postpone…"

A/n: Abrupt ending, but couldn't think of anything. At least I updated, right? Well. Wonder why it said murderer in the chapter title? I don't really know either… but it caught your attention, didn't it? It's supposed to be "The Mysterious Anonymous Asker" or something, but that's long and boring, don't ya think…?


	21. Reunion

Wow…. The last time I updated was last year. Anyway….

Chapter 21

Reunion

Munch munch munch munch

"…"

Munch munch munch MUNCH munch

"Gr…"

Munch munch CRUNCH munch CHOMP

"NARUTO!"

"What?" he said innocently through a mouthful of ramen… dry.

"Quit smacking!" Tenten scolded, bonking him on the head, and therefore making him spit out his ramen.

"Hey, what was that for?" he shouted, rubbing his head.

"Nothing…"

Sakura glanced at her watch (where'd it come from?). "We'd better get back to class… what's next?"

"Botany," Neji offered.

They all groaned. "Not with Orochimaru!"

"Hey, you guys have it everyday!" Sakura accused. "You shouldn't be complaining! You're used to it."

"You have it everyday too," Tenten pointed out. "And you're _going_ to have to get used to it."

Ayame sighed with boredom. "Come on, then, let's go."

They individually threw away the remnants of their lunches: grape juice, water, tomato juice, ramen juice, dry, _uncooked _ramen, smelly egg-tuna-potato sandwiches, a huge salad of turnips and grapes, tomatoes, more ramen, this time cooked, and a double helping of… fried chicken with string beans.

…

They headed to the classroom of Botany. The door still had pictures of palm trees on it.

"I hope Orochimaru doesn't use the smokescreen again," Sakura whispered to Tenten, who agreed readily.

"Come on, I think we're late. If only we could slip by…" Ayame began, but she was stopped by a snake poking its head out the tiny crack between door and wall to hiss at them.

"Uh… hi," she said to it, her voice cracking.

"I think Orochimaru is using him as one of those things you can use to look out your door without opening it to see who it is. And no, I don't mean a window," Sasuke muttered.

"Yeah, sure. Just hope that he has no idea of what we're attempting…"

"Why, hello there. Sneaking to class, are we?"

You can imagine the trouble that got them into.

Let's just say that _somehow, _miraculously, they managed to snake out of it. Get it? Snake? Hah! Haha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Ok. Sorry.

They're to serve detentions on Wednesday.

-Time skip to 4:15-

"Uh-oh. I gotta run!" Sakura shouted, bolting through the halls. Echoes of the racket bounced through the hall as a speeding pink blur zipped past, making loosely held paper from the arms of passing students fly and flutter away like butterflies. In a second she was gone.

"MoveasidepeopleIgotta'pointmentwith'sorayuki!" That phrase was reported to be heard often whenever the blur passed. But before anyone had a chance to comprehend what was being said, the blur would have disappeared.

Sakura sped out the double doors of her new school and, books loose in her arms, rushed towards the training grounds. She had discovered the clearing much earlier, dubbed it "the training ground", and knew that it was where her instructor had wished for her to go when she mentioned "training".

She was in such a hurry that little did she know about the shadow slinking after her…

"I-I'm here," she announced, panting slightly after her mad dash. She looked around to see the wind blowing peacefully through the leaves of the few trees, squirrels chattering amiably, and the grass waving lazily.

"I know you're here," she grumped, and a chuckle emanated from what seemed like the sky. But a second later, a flash of black arrived, springing down from a nearby tree.

"Sharp as aways, I see."

Sakura allowed a smile to slide onto her features.

"Let's just say I've been practicing."

Asorayuki shifted. "Good. That means you will be quite fit for the lesson, hm?"

A second later, she disappeared.

Sakura quickly scanned the landscape. She blinked and jumped backward as a kunai came hurtling down at a slanted angle toward her, and another, and another.

The shadow that had been following her was now safely up a tree, watching. His eyes grew wide when he saw what they were doing.

A shuriken flew at her from behind. Sakura drew into her weapon pouch and threw a kunai to counter it. Before she could turn forward again, someone landed a sharp kick to her back. She gasped, and then poofed into a log.

"Good tactic! Keep it up!" Asorayuki called. She performed several swift hand signs and muttered something. Immediately a huge gust of wind tumbled from the trees of her left side, successfully displacing several weak trees and a pink-haired girl.

Sakura growled and, right after the wind subsided, threw another kunai at A. (let's just call her that…). She slightly shifted her arm and it flew past harmlessly. A barrage of pointed weaponry, all related to knives in some way, came at A. from all sides. She began a complex cartwheel move that, somehow, saved her from harm. By the time she fixed her attention again on Sakura, she was already landing an ax kick toward her head. A. ducked her head and grabbed her ankle, twisting it.

A noise between a snarl and a whine left her mouth, but she quickly countered with a few stabs of her kunai, which forced A. to dodge and let go. Taking advantage of this, Sakura flipped forward, leashing a barrage of shuriken, and stomped on the ground hard. The compact dirt under their feet began to rumble and shake.

It was an earthquake.

A. jumped back in surprise. She landed in the branches of a nearby tree, but was forced to seek another safe spot as the violently shaking ground tore the tree.

As soon as it was over, A. flipped forward, the kunai in her hand clashing with Sakura's. They fought with taijutsu for several moments in silence, each trying some of her hardest. Sakura was swift and agile, while A. was more experienced and deft.

Sakura ended it with a pair of double kicks, a jumping hook kick, punches and fake, quick gestures meant to confuse, and a downward and side slash. She stopped, panting, with her kunai tip resting at A.'s neck.

She pushed up, smiling and also breathing heavily. "Well, Sakura, I see you've improved greatly over the past few weeks. Your techniques have been polished. I take it you've been practicing extensively…?"

"Yeah…" Sakura wheezed, attempting to stand up. She walked away with slow steps. "I think I need to get some rest."

"That's right, but first let me tell you of something." That stopped her. "Soon, they are holding the annual ninja festival…"

Sakura perked up. Brightening, she chirped, "Really? It's always so fun…"

"So, do you have someone in mind?"

"Sorta…" Sakura put a finger to her chin, thinking. "It's barely been anything since I've gotten here, but it seems so long already… I think I know who."

The figure up in the tree was puffing in relief that his tree had not been uprooted. Brushing past, he leaned forward, trying to hear what she was going to say next. He was so focused on the goal that he didn't notice as he tipped forward… falling…

Suddenly the ground seemed much closer than it had been before.

A/N: owch… the figure fell. Do you know who it is?

I didn't update since last year… omg… I started the chapter but then forgot about it… sorry… anyway was the fighting scene okay? I'm not good at that kind of stuff.

Plz review:D


	22. Invited

Chapter 22

The Stalker Is Revealed

"Oomph！"

Sakura and A spun around to see...

…Someone splat facedown on the ground, twigs, leaves, bits of cracked dirt and grass sticking up in tufts of black hair.

Guess who it was. Come on, come on…

SASUKE! WHOOOuh…

Waitaminute

Screw that. Let's mourn.

He groaned pitifully in pain…. among other things. Sakura remembered herself and hastily went to help him.

"Sasuke, are you okay? I think you need a shower right about now. Did you break anything? ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE OKAY?!"

Then she frowned. "Wait…_why_ do I happen to be checking if you're okay when you fell out of a tree right next to where we were meeting? This place is secret!"

His response was a groan.

"Come ON, tell me!"

Sasuke rolled over. "I'msecretlystalkingyouandtryingtofindoutwhasup."

"…Excuse me?"

"I'm, uh… I have a case of… um… Irojithiticsinjitis."

"Which is…?"

"A temporary disease that gives you the urge to stalk people you think are cu-" Sasuke stopped himself in time.

"To stalk people," he said quickly to her questioning stare.

"And it's not contagious," he added as Sakura backed away from him.

It was obviously a total and utterly complete lie, and he breathed his relief as Sakura seemingly fell for it.

A came up to Sasuke and cast a doubting, suspicious look at him. "Then why were you spying on us?"

He had no answer for that.

"What's the ninja ball thing?" Sasuke asked, hoping that the two females wouldn't question his presence any longer.

"Oh, that!" Sakura exclaimed. She seemed to have forgotten the previous matter. "It's really fun! It's a sorta party, contest, and a have-fun kinda thing, but very competitive. Lots of ninjas-in-training and their mentors come from all over the world to this yearly event. The male and female ninjas are separated. The thing is, all the in-training people have to bring one person of the opposite gender who don't really have any ninja experience…"

Sasuke nodded. Things were beginning to make sense.

"…And I think I know who."

"Give me a hint."

"Well, I was considering Shikamaru," Sasuke fell, anime style, and righted himself, sweatdropping, "since he has the brain, but he's really lazy. Then I skipped Chouji. There was Naruto, but he's way to loud and obnoxious. He'd probably embarrass me. And there's always Neji, but he's too…" Sakura made a face. "Wimpy. Too wimpy. Kiba and Shino… I don't think dogs or bugs are allowed… and Gaara's going to be there too, as he is considered ninja… I'm just not going to be able to see him." She pouted.

Sasuke felt triumphant at her dissing Neji, and also felt a twinge of annoyance when she expressed her disappointment about Gaara. His very slight excitement inched up, noticing that he wasn't among those who had been declined.

"So, I was supposing that I'd bring…" Sasuke held his breath. "Lee!"

Sasuke fell over again, and this time he did not get up.

* * *

"Lee? Why in the world did you choose _Lee_?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, Lee! Green spandex suit-wearer! Fuzzy eyebrows! Mushroomhead! You were relieved when you thought you were hyperventilating that first day-"

"Dreaming."

"Whatever, the point is that-"

"Why, did you want to go, Sasuke?" She smirked. "Are you _jealous_?"

Damn. At times that woman was so freaking innocent, but then...

He made a point of trying to answer, but yet again she beat him to it.

"That's fine, Lee said he'd loved to, but was too busy or something... so if you want to, you can come!"

Sasuke stared blankly at her. His mouth opened, then closed.

"What, do you want to come or not?"

"Uh, y-yeah, I'll come." Mentally he cursed himself. _I don't know what kind of trouble I just got myself into... but at least all the ladies will be falling all over me_. He smirked at this thought, and held onto it for the rest of the day.

* * *

A/N: The first part of this chap was here for a while, but then I never finished it, so here you go... sorry for not updating... even though its summer i still have work. anyway, plz review!

sorry if this was a short chap, i'll try to make it up next one!


	23. Detention

Chapter 23

A/N: Um, I haven't updated in….HOLY S A YEAR

Oh, I'm sorry. For that thing up there and for the not updating part.

OmFREAKINGgee, a YEAR!

Okay, my writing sucks, yes, so I went back and slightly edited the first FEW chapters… to make them slightly more bearable to read.

Okay.

For those of you who are wondering why there is no romance/fluff in the humor/romance genre this story is in, well, Sasuke and Sakura and all the other pairings need to get really close friends, etc, so then they can begin to like each other. On Sasuke's part, he's ALREADY liking Sakura. From like, the very first few chapters. :

As I mentioned in the last chapter at the very bottom, it's summer YES and I THINK I'll be able to update a lot more often now to make it up… provided that ALL OF YOU REVIEW AS FAST AND MUCH AS YOU CAN please. :

Whoa, that was a weird face.

_Thoughts_

Text

**Inner self**

Chapter 23

Detention

So. It's Wednesday afterschool. The fateful day of Sakura's, Ayame's, Sasuke's, Naruto's, Tenten's, poor Hinata's, and Neji's detentions. So sad.

"Ah, here for your detentions?"

The group swallowed as one. "Yes," Sakura said.

"Very well." Orochimaru smiled, displaying a set of perfectly white fangs, and gestured for them to enter.

"Your detention will be for an hour! Sit separately, at least two desks between each of you! And, since I have much more productive and important things to do than watch over you little bunch, I'll be back in half an hour to check on how you're doing." The smile widened. "And if you do something out of hand, then . . . well, let's just say you will be lacking a certain . . . _something_ the next day." Orochimaru swept out of the room.

"Aw, this is boring," Kiba commented from the back of the room. Seven heads whipped around to stare at the dog-boy.

"Kiba…why are you here?" Tenten asked cautiously.

"No reason! Just wanted to mock you. 'Cuz you guys gotta stay here for an _hour_. Can't imagine how boring that will be. Glad I'm not one of you."

Pause….

"Ow!"

"You deserved it, all right," Sakura said, smirking.

"That's right. Only boring people think things are boring. That means _you're _boring. In your _face,_ Kiba. No offense, Akamaru."

The white dog barked something to the weapons mistress.

"Aw, really? Thanks, Akamaru…"

He barked something else.

"Really? Now that's just…well, it wasn't unexpected…"

"A-ano, how can you understand him, Tenten?" Hinata asked.

She smiled slyly. "It's a secret… that I might just reveal one day."

No one questioned her.

"AH!" went Naruto as Orochimaru popped his snake-like head back into the classroom. "Inuzuka!" he barked. Kiba snapped to frightened attention.

"Get your butt out of my classroom," he snapped. Kiba scrabbled out of the doorway.

"Wow, that was neat," said Sakura from across the room.

"You can work on whatever homework or work you have from your other classes," said Orochimaru, turning back to face the others. "I'll be back…"

At the snake man's retreating footsteps, Kiba snuck back in. From the ceiling.

"Augh, Kiba was right. This _is_ rather boring," Naruto said, after Neji and Sasuke had heaved the dog-boy out the window. He was stretched out on two desks, hands behind his head, facing the ceiling. The off-white, plaster, crumbling ceiling through which Kiba had re-entered.

"Well, it doesn't have to be. We could be doing something," Sakura said, idly twirling a kunai (which she had snuck in her sleeve) around her pinky. She didn't want to magically lose her ability with lack of practice.

Like _that_ would happen.

She started swinging it in a figure eight pattern. The kunai flashed through the air and back around, nothing more than a blur. Tenten watched, her eyes wide with awe.

"What now?" Ayame wondered, tapping her foot against the ground. Hinata was looking at Naruto.

"Oh, hey!" Tenten jumped up. "Do you guys remember the dance we're having at the end of the year?"

"What dance?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, on the bulletin board they posted that huge orange poster about a week ago. It talks about the dance we're having . . . you know, at the end of the year!"

He scoffed. "I haven't heard anything about a dance or an orange poster."

Naruto looked up, then decided better of it and looked down again.

"Yeah, well, there's gonna be a dance. The poster said more information was going to be posted later in the year."

"That's nice," Sakura muttered. She turned to the wall separating them from the rest of the school. "Hey, Gaara, do you think we'd be able to pull off a spar now?"

The others jerked around at the mention of his name as Gaara stepped through the wall, looking as if he had melted right through it.

"I doubt it," he said mechanically, arms crossed.

"Aw, come on! A short one! I haven't sparred anyone in _ages_."

"Yes, you have. With Asorayuki-san."

Sakura rolled her eyes. Gaara had a mentor too, who was friends with Asorayuki. That was how he knew about her training times, the ninja ball, and how he was also going to be attending. He often used the Japanese endings with people other than his friends, to be respectful.

"But I really need a spar!" She looked at him pleadingly.

"I don't think a spar can last less than twenty minutes for you."

"I promise!"

So two minutes later, two blurs of pink and red were flickering, dancing on the school grounds. Occasional clinks of metal could be heard, along with sharp silver flashes of weapons being dodged that slammed into the hard dirt. They mainly used taijutsu, as they didn't want to damage the school property or attract attention.

The area they were sparring in was in a more isolated part of the campus, though not far from the room where Sakura was supposed to be serving "detention". Some of the others were watching them from the window, trying to keep up with their lightning fast moves.

Loud cracks and hits with medium to hard impact sounded as Sakura and Gaara quickly used up their energy, as it was a short spar. It ended in a sort of draw, with Sakura centimeters away from breaking her friend's neck, and Gaara holding a kunai to Sakura's stomach. After a moment of holding the pose, they separated and stepped back, shaking hands formally. Sakura grinned, all sweat and dirt and pink. Gaara was of the same kind (only with red, of course).

Sakura used a water and wind jutsu to rinse and dry them off, dissolving any trace of their spar from the grounds, and they returned to the room. Gaara disappeared, seeming as if he'd melted into blurs of sand as Orochimaru entered.

"Hm…" he surveyed the innocent-looking students in the room. Everyone was seated with Orochimaru's instructions, two desks apart.

Hinata was looking adoringly at Naruto, who was babbling his head off about ramen to Neji, who was trying to have a staring contest with Sasuke (strong and silent types, pale lavender barely visible iris vs. dark, scary onyx eyes), who was being dissed by Tenten, who was talking to Ayame, who was deciding whether or not to tell Sakura that Sasuke had won the staring contest and was looking at the pink-haired girl, who _happened_ to be (pretending to be) working on some worksheet she'd gotten at the end of Algebra.

Orochimaru looked at them for several seconds before nodding to himself. He turned, but before he went out of the room he barked again, "Uzumaki! Shut up!"

Naruto promptly glued his lips together, looking scared, as Orochimaru walked off with a smug smile on his face. Poor guy. He didn't see the death glare being sent to him by Hinata for scaring her crush.

As soon as he was out of hearing distance (the information of which Sakura so helpfully provided), Naruto resumed talking cautiously, Sasuke continued staring at Sakura, and Gaara reappeared in a swirl of sand.

Sakura engaged the redhead in a one-sided conversation, which was _very rarely_ commented on by the other side. "So, Gaara, you like chips?"

Silence.

"You still can't sleep well?"

Silence.

"I could sorta infer that, cuz you've still got those weird rings around your eyes." She laughed. To Sasuke it sounded like a bell. "You look like you've got eyeliner on."

"Hn."

"I wonder what you'd look like if I put real eyeliner on you. Then you'd have double rings. Unless… no, it would look the same, wouldn't it?"

Silence.

"Oh, I see… you've _tried_ doing that already, haven't you?"

Silence.

"Well, why in the ninja clashing world didn't you tell me? You should've taken a picture of it at least! Gaara, you suck eyeliner."

"Shut up, Sakura."

She grinned. "Come on, Gaara. You know those rings make you look _hawt."_

Sasuke thought he felt something die a little on the inside.

"Just kidding."

Little something coming back to life.

"So… who are you taking to the ninja ball?"

Now Gaara looked verrrry slightly uncomfortable. No one but Sakura could detect the change in his usually stoic exterior.

"Uh, no one? You have to, don't you?"

Silence. "Hn."

"Whoa! You spoke!"

"That wasn't speaking."

"Well, _that_ was."

"Shut up."

"Hm. I should hold a record for making Gaara, the _hottest_ redhead ninja who wears eyeliner who _happens_ to control sand, say those two words the most in an hour."

"Hn."

Sakura stuck her tongue out playfully at him. "Just kidding. Again. About the hot part."

"Dudes, we should totally have, like, another sleepover today," exclaimed Tenten.

"Yeah, we should," said Naruto, blinking.

Hinata blushed. "O-okay. I think Father will let us, r-right, Neji?"

"Probably," he agreed. "So, perhaps the same people as last time?"

"What, you mean me, Hinata, Tenten, Sasuke, you, Gaara, Naruto, Ayame, Megumi, Kiba, and Shikamaru? The Itachi thing was a _total_ accident." Sakura chimed.

"Uh … surrree."

"No, really," Sakura said, looking serious. The others sweatdropped.

"I can come. Hinata and I are like, really good friends, so my parents won't mind," said Tenten happily.

"I don't think my parents even care," said Sasuke, looking bored, though on the inside he was super hyped up.

"I don't have any parents," Sakura said, shrugging. Naruto gave her a high five. "Really? I don't either!"

"It's my house," said Neji, also shrugging.

"Shikamaru's probably too lazy to come, but I'll make him," said Kiba, who appeared out of nowhere.

"Ugh… why did we even invite him in the first place?" wondered Neji as said dog-boy proceeded to sniff around the classroom.

"Do I have parents?" Gaara said to himself. Everyone sweatdropped. Again.

"I'm not sure we can go," said Ayame, looking sad, referring to her and her sister.

"Noooo!" Sakura and Tenten cried. "You two are important parts to our matchmaking plan!"

Silence.

"Oops," said Tenten at the prolonged quiet. "I guess we shouldn't have mentioned that…"

"Yeah, we'll get to it later," Sakura said nonchalantly, waving her hand.

"Here!" Tenten produced a cell phone from her pocket. "Call your parents! HURRY!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean Orochimaru's gonna come soon!"

They all jumped in realization. Ayame took the phone ("Aren't those not allowed?" asked Sakura. "Yeah, but no one listens to those rules," Tenten replied) and dialed quickly. The phone started buzzing and she held it to her ear.

"Um… hello, Mom? Yeah, hi… well, n– okay, yes, I'm in detention… but I already told you about it… yeah… well, not really, but – okay. Yeah, I just wanted to ask if me and Megumi could go to a sleepover tonight… what? Megumi and I? Oh – uh-huh. Of course. Well… I know, they're the same people as last time… yeah, they're really nice… oh, no, they invited a bunch of other people too…what? She's not here right now. I know. I know. Uh-huh. Okay. I promise. Yeah. Okay, bye." Ayame snapped the phone shut and handed it back to Tenten, looking embarrassed.

"That was a long talk," said Sakura conversationally.

"Mhm. I guess we should all go back to our seats now and look like we haven't been moving around or talking for the past half hour," said Tenten, grinning.

So in a minute they'd reseated themselves. Just as Gaara and Kiba disappeared, Orochimaru stepped in again, looking as revolting as only always.

"Hm," he muttered. "Well, I guess you all can go now."

They nodded quietly and waited for him to leave before they shot out of their seats, whooping and grinning. "That was AWESOME!" shouted Naruto, and Hinata blushed sixteen shades of the color of Sakura's hair.

"Yeah… well, I guess we'll be going now," Ayame murmured. Hinata nodded. "E-everybody, come to our h-house by six, if y-you can make it. Bring the s-same things as last time."

"Yeah, be ready," said Neji, smirking.

By this point they were out of school grounds. The group began to scatter in loose formation.

In the midst of the chatting and goodbyes and "see you later"s, Sasuke went up to Sakura and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned, then looked surprised when she saw him. "Sasuke? What's up?"

"Um… I just… wanted to walk you home again. Is that okay?" he mumbled, looking at the ground, and feeling slightly embarrassed. Sakura smiled and nodded.

"Ooh," said Naruto, grinning foxily. "Sasuke's got the hots for Sakura." Tenten smacked him over the head.

They walked in a not uncomfortable quiet for a few moments. "So, what's your favorite food?" Sasuke said eventually.

Sakura looked surprised – again. "Uh, I like all kinds of foods," she said, smiling at him. Sasuke felt his spirits inflate. Like a balloon. Like those balloons Itachi used to buy him at carnivals when he was little. "How about you?"

"Tomatoes," he said automatically, then proceeded to turn the color of a tomato. Sakura "aww"ed.

"Aw, that's so cute! You're blushing!" she grinned. Sasuke turned away, feeling his _ears_ go red too.

"But that's not a bad thing or anything," she added. "Everyone has things they like and don't like, it's not a big deal. So, do you like tomato soup, or just plain tomatoes, or what?"

"Mostly just plain," he muttered, not believing that he was sharing this embarrassing little fact with his _crush_. Wait, crush? he thought, confused. No, his friend. Just friend.

_**Girl**_**friend**, his inner self put in helpfully. Sasuke groaned.

"What is it?" Sakura asked, suddenly concerned.

He shook his head. "It's nothing. And, um, just anything tomato related." He almost smacked his head at his stupidity. And, why in the world would he bring his _friend_'s attention back to the embarrassing fact just to divert her?

Sakura grinned again. "Like ketchup?"

Sasuke sweatdropped. "Sure…"

They were at her house now. She smiled at him (for the FREAKING LAST TIME) and went on her toes to plant a small kiss on his cheek. "Thanks," she mumbled, blushing a little, before she rushed to the door, extracted a key from some place, and locked herself inside.

Sasuke held a hand up to his face, surprised. **But you know you liked it**, said his inner self, grinning in a silly way that only Naruto could pull off. He slowly began walking back, retracing his steps to the point where he would take a different fork in the road to his house.

**But if you ask me, I liked the first one better. Even if it was an accident**, mused Inner (perverted) Sasuke.

_Weirdo_. Sasuke walked to his front door, thinking about one of the first comments his inner self had made the day Sakura walked into his life (or rather, his algebra class), the one about him liking her. Now, not even his conscious self could deny that.

**That's right. I'm **_**always**_** right.**

A/N: that was a GREAT chapter, wasn't it? :D now, to re quote myself.. how dorky… but..

Read and review to show your gratitude! Do it NOW!

Pairings are as follows:

SasxSaku

NaruxHina

MeguxGaara

ShikaxAyame

NejixTen

Yeah, they sound funny, and there might be more pairings later, but these are the main ones. Please review to comment on anything you like or a suggestion, etc.

REVIEW PLEASE! ITS SUMMER, SO I'LL BE ABLE TO UPDATE A LOT MORE AND FASTER

But only if you freaking REVIEW! :)


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